Exclusionary practices in secondary schools in the Netherlands: A comparison between students sent to out-of-school facilities and their non-referred peers.

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The present study investigated differences between students sent to out-of-school facilities (N = 148), also called rebound facilities, and non-referred students (N = 411), in junior vocational high schools. Self-reports on externalizing and antisocial behaviors were used to compare the two samples. Referred students scored significantly higher on externalizing and antisocial behaviors than non-referred students. After controlling for age, gender, and socio-economic status (SES), an interaction effect between ethnicity and referral status was found, in which differences between referred and non-referred students on externalizing behavior were larger for national students than for immigrant students. No interaction effects were found for antisocial behaviors. In short, immigrant youths were more likely to be referred while reporting less externalizing behavior than their national peers. Practical implications in terms of possible intervention models are discussed.