Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Across the United States there has been increasing attention to school pushout, the application of harsh and exclusionary discipline of marginalized students that contributes to school dropout or justice system-involvement. While a growing body of research demonstrates the school-to-prison pipeline for youth of color, only one study so far has documented the disparity in school and criminal justice sanctions between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth and their heterosexual peers (Himmelstein & Bruckner, 2011). Additionally, a recent national school climate survey found that LGBTQ youth were more than twice as likely as their non-LGBTQ peers to report they did not plan to finish high school (GLSEN, 2016). However, no empirical research to date has looked at actual disparities in high school completion among LGB youth. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey on Adolescent and Adult Health (Add Health) to look at this disparity. The dependent variable for the logit regression is high school completion by age 32 and the key independent variable is identifying as LGB, as measured by attraction to same gender, relationship history, and self-identification. Other control and explanatory variables include race/ethnicity, gender (measured as binary male/female as prescribed by Add Health Interviewers), family income, academic achievement, experiences of victimization, school engagement, school disciplinary sanctions, and relationships with parents and teachers. The analysis will be completed and presentable prior to the APPAM DC Regional Student Conference at the end of March, 2019.