Association between Intention to Quit School and Youth Depression: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of a Group CBT Course

ABSTRACT

We investigated changes in youths’ intentions to quit school after following a group-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based intervention for depressed adolescents in upper secondary school: the Adolescent Coping with Depression Course (ACDC). Data were collected from 228 youths, 133 of whom received the 14-week ACDC intervention and 95 who received usual care (UC). Structural equation models showed that symptoms of depression at post-test positively predicted intention to quit school at six-month follow-up after the intervention ended (β = .291, p < .001). Furthermore, ACDC, which showed a decrease in depressive symptoms post-test, had an indirect effect on adolescents’ intention to quit school at six-month follow-up (indirect β = −0.117 p = .018). Hence, targeting depression and implementing effective preventive programmes may prevent dropout from upper secondary school. Such interventions should thus be investigated in future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Cluster RCT
• group CBT
• adolescents
• depression
• intention to quit school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Research Council of Norway through the “Research and Innovation in the Educational Sector” (FINNUT) programme (project number 238081/H20). Additional funding was received from the Gidske og Peter Jacob Sørensens fond, and the Norwegian Directorate of Health.