Association of risk behaviours, socio-economic characteristics and academic progress in adolescents: an analysis of the 1993 birth cohort in Pelotas, Brazil

• Main Authors: Lívia Madeira Triaca, Andréa Dâmaso Bertoldi, Paulo de Andrade Jacinto, Helen Gonçalves, Ana Maria Baptista Menezes, Aluísio J. D. Barros, César Augusto Oviedo Tejada
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
• Subjects: Education; health behavior; adolescence
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2018.1564932
• ISSN: 0267-3843; 2164-4527

To analyze how socio-economic factors and behavioural characteristics are related to the failure of academic progress. Data of the 1993 Birth Cohort of the city of Pelotas, Brazil, were analyzed using four follow-up waves. As a measure of the failure of academic progress, we used indicators of the age-grade gap. We analyzed the association of demographic, socio-economic, and behavioural characteristics. Factors associated with failure of academic progress were assessed through logistic regression. There are a higher odds of the age-grade gap when the adolescent is not white, man, of low socio-economic status, whose parents have low schooling and living in large families. In relation to risk behaviours, alcohol and tobacco consumption represent higher odds of the age-grade gap at age 18. The results show that socio-economic factors and behavioural characteristics are important predictors of academic progress. Public policies that seek to promote education should be targeted at the most vulnerable groups, decreasing the observed inequalities.