In this pilot study, financial constraints and community and school violence are the major factors identified as contributing to the boys in this pilot study dropping out of the formal school system, and for their nonparticipation and resultant underachievement. The small size of the sample prevents any valid generalizations as to the impact of these factors on the wider population, but they do provide indicators for further research with a more representative sample.
These data, however, point to the fact that in the case of this group, it is the political economy of the boys' situations rather than socialization or school factors that account for their underachievement. Socioeconomic factors, however, have not been raised as problematics in much of the existing discourse on male underachievement, mainly because the focus has been on comparisons between the sexes rather than intragroup factors such as social class assignment, family form, and place of residence, and how these influence schooling and the school experience. One voice in this study points to the urgency of extending this research and taking these factors into account.