Understanding Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Urban American Indian /Alaska Native Youth Graduation Expectations

Utilizing data collected by the Monitoring the Future project between 2005-2015, this study assesses the effect of risk and protective factors in shaping the graduation expectations of urban American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students as compared to their non-Hispanic White (NHW) peers. The responses of nearly 150,000 8th- and 10th-grade students reveal that single race and multi-race AI/AN students experienced 13 of 15 risk factors at higher proportions than NHW students, and 12 of 15 risk factors corresponded to single race AI/AN students and a third of risk factors corresponded to multi-race AI/AN students having higher odds of expecting not to graduate. Additionally, for the majority of the 14 protective factors analyzed, both single race and multi-race AI/AN students showed lower odds of expecting to graduate compared to their NHW peers.