Students from low-income families are less likely to get involved in risky behaviors if they get admission into better high schools, a research by the University of California shows.
Researchers found that adolescent students from poor economic backgrounds who were placed in high-performing public charter schools were less likely to engage in risky behavior such as using tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.
The team categorised binge drinking, alcohol use in school, drug abuse apart from cannabis, carrying a weapon to school, gang membership, pregnancy, multiple sex partners, sex under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or unsafe sex as 'very risky behaviors'.
Researchers explained that the chances of low-income students engaging in such behaviors were less because there were fewer students indulging in such experiences.
"These students' higher cognitive skills may lead them to better health literacy and decision-making," said the study's lead researcher Dr. Mitchell Wong, a professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at UCLA, in a press release.
"They may be exposed to less negative peer pressure, and the school environment may promote the resilience that steers them away from these risky behaviors. In addition, in a better academic environment, students spent more time studying, leaving them less time to engage in risky behaviors," Wong said.
Researchers observed the trend after comparing two groups of high school students from low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Around 521 students were given admissions to a high-performing public charter school through a district lottery and another set of 409 students did not. Researchers analyzed the health behaviors and standardized test scores of both groups.
The results showed that students admitted to the high-performing schools scored well on standardized tests. Researchers noted that better school also had a lesser percentage of students engaging in very risky behavior. Significantly fewer of the charter school attendees - 36 percent versus 42 percent of those who did not attend charter schools - engaged in any risky behavior. However, the team did not see a major difference in risky behavior between the two groups.
The research was published in the journal Pediatrics.
