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Book reviews. By: D'Antunano, Margarita. Convergence. 1996, Vol.
29 Issue 3, p60. 4p. Abstract: Reviews the book `Soledad y
Desercion: Un Estudio Psico-Social de la Desercion Escolar en los
Sectores Populares,' by Salomon Magendzo and Isabel Toledo. (AN:
9610160282)
Base de datos:Academic Search Premier

BOOK REVIEWS
SOLEDAD Y DESERCION: UN ESTUDIO PSICO-SOCIAL DE LA DESERCION ESCOLAR EN LOS
SECTORES POPULARES
by Salomon Magendzo and Isabel Toledo, 1990
Published by Programa Interdisciplinario de Investigacion en
Educacion, Chile, 215 pages
This book addresses the psycho-social effects of middle school drop-outs in the public sector of
Santiago, Chile in 1989. Aresearch project was undertaken in order to detect the relationship between
drop-outs, society and economic development. While the project was undertaken in Santiago, Chile, it
could serve as a holistic model for the relationship between society, economics and drop-out rates in
other countries, especially developing ones.
Two-hundred and forty-six students from three different public middleschools participated in this project.
A quantitative analysis was undertaken through the assessment of their educational history, and
psychological questionnaires. The qualitative research was undertaken through interviews. Five
students who had dropped out were chosen by the researchers to participate in the qualitative analysis.
During the interviews the students talked freely about their lifeand school stories.
The results of the quantitative data were based on the analysis of the school hi story of 246 students in
the school year 1988-89. Historical educational data showed that those who did not drop out had higher
marks and came from smaller families. The ambitions of those who stayed at school were higher than
those who dropped out. However, 75 percent of those who dropped outstated that they wanted to stay
in school and 57 percent of those who dropped out wanted to finish high school. Only 23 percent wanted
to finish middle school, and 19 percent did not know what to do.
It was also found that emotional and mental health influenced the drop-out rate. Of the students who
stayed at school, 71 percent showed normal emotional and mental health, while 29 percent showedmental health pathology. Of those students who dropped out, 53 percent had normal emotional and
mental health, whereas 47 percent showed pathological mental health. Seventy-nine percent maintained
their mental health from the 1987 to 1989 school years while 22 percent changed to pathological mental
health. Of those who showed pathological health in 1987, 35 percent changed to normal mentalhealth
and 65 percent remained in this category. Only five interviews of students who dropped out helped in
drawing some conclusions about factors that may influence drop-out rates, from a qualitative point of
view.
It was observed that students who drop out of school have low self-esteem to begin with which is further
devalued when they leave school. Unexpected and unwanted events beyondpersonal control, like
parents' divorcing, financial problems, mental and physical abuse at home, seemed to be the cause of
students dropping out. There is a link between central problematic situations in their lives and a level of

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psychopathological symptoms. Thirty-five percent of thestudents interviewed showed pathological
mental health incidents when tested in 1987. The number of pathological mental health problems
increased in 1989. Low self-esteem in these students seems to have been caused by negative
reinforcement by the people around them. These students had a tendency to control external factors in
their lives, like having money or solving problems with their families....