This paper investigates the determinants of secondary school attrition and related
health factors among female students in rural Kenya. To explore the relationship
between attrition determinants and negative health outcomes, a mixed-methods
approach was taken to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted with 35 female youth that had terminated their enrollment in
a Muhuru Bay secondary school between 2011 and 2015. Using grounded theory and
thematic analysis, dominant themes were identified pertaining to determinants of
attrition and implications for attrition-related health outcomes. Participants reported
three primary causes of attrition: adolescent pregnancy (65.7% n=23), poverty and
school fees (45.7% n=16) and early marriage (5.7% n-2). Health-related themes
emerged in three major themes: in-school factors, out-of-school factors, and newsituation
factors. Emergent health-related subthemes vary per temporal category and
include forming relationships for favors, pride from enrollment status, intimate partner
violence in early marriage, familial violence in response to situation changes, and
abortion in response to early pregnancy. Numerical attrition data collected for the
graduating classes of 2014 and 2015 in Muhuru Bay revealed no significant difference
between male and female rates of attrition in the community. This may suggest that the
burden of poverty in Muhuru Bay is so elevated that confounding factors of attrition,
such as gender, are masked. Further research is necessary to determine health factors
of male attrition and potential points of intervention for both male and female students.