Risk and Resilience among Out-Of-School Youth in South Africa

Lisa Wegner, Joachim Jacobs, Renette J Blignaut, Innocent Karangwa, Elizabeth Weybright, Linda Lee Caldwell, Edward Allan Smith

South African youth experience many challenges including unemployment, poverty, disorganised families, health issues, substance use, crime and violence. The Western Cape Province Youth Development Strategy of 2013 reported that 32% of youth are NEETS (Not Educated, Employed or Trained). A major contributing factor to this situation is youth who have left school prematurely. Around half of all students entering the school system do not reach Grade 12. The Western Cape has the highest school dropout rate in the country with 17% of 16 year-olds being out of school. Previous research has shown an association between dropout and risk behavior in youth; however, very little research has been conducted with youth who have left school prematurely once they are out of school. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a profile of out-of-school youth in Cape Town, focusing on risk behavior and resilience.

Study respondents were part of the original sample of the HealthWise South Africa study, which collected data from eighth to tenth grade students in 56 Western Cape high schools during 2012 to 2014. At the start of 2016, the research team approached the schools with the names of students not surveyed in the last wave of data collection. Schools provided physical addresses for these students where possible, and the research team conducted in-person visits to the addresses to track down the youth. Respondents completed the self-report HealthWise survey on netbook computers at venues in the different communities or at the university. The study is ongoing, thus we report on preliminary data in this poster.

Results show that of the 287 respondents (M age 18.6 years) surveyed to date, 51% were male, 60% were Colored (mixed ancestry), 25% were Black, 10% were White and 5% were Indian or other. Just over half (54%) of the respondents lived in houses or apartments, while 36% lived in temporary dwellings or shacks pointing to their lower socio-economic status. Almost 68% knew someone who had died violently (including gun shot, stabbing, fire, motor vehicle accident, fire) in the past six months. Past month substance use was 61% for alcohol, 69% for tobacco, 65% for marijuana, 31% for methamphetamine, and 30% for inhalants. Regarding sexual risk behavior, 67% had ever had sex, 16% had been forced to have sex, 59% had been tested for HIV, 13% indicated that they were HIV positive and 30% did not use condoms.

Compared with results of the 2011 South African Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, out-of-school youth report relatively higher rates of risk behavior than school-going youth. These findings have implications for the development of relevant programs that address the needs of youth who have left school prematurely. Further research is needed to design, implement and evaluate future programs that build resilience and reduce risk behavior in out-of-school youth.

This abstract was submitted to the 2017 Annual Society for Prevention Research Meeting.