The importance of belonging: Interactions between individual and structural risk factors for youth-disengagement

Abstract

Are disengagement risks lower when youths are surrounded by others with similar risk traits? Applying theoretical perspectives of belonging and residential context, this study examines interactional effects between individual and structural risk factors for youth-disengagement. From registry data of 590,085 Norwegians aged 16–24, the study finds less disengagement among youths in municipalities where an above-average rate of individuals shared individual risk-traits of immigrant background, young parenthood, and not completing high school. Youths with parents on social welfare had an increased risk of disengagement in municipalities with above average rates of people on social welfare. Sex-stratified analysis reveals that men and women benefit from belonging to different risk-groups. In challenging the prevailing segmented approach to individual and structural risk factors for youth-disengagement, the findings demonstrate the need for continued examination of gender, belonging and residential context as theoretical perspectives.