The Future of Education

School dropout and school leaving constitute a multifaceted, relational process of disengagement from school, in which peer relationships and school belonging emerge as central dimensions shaping students' trajectories, particularly in contexts of structural vulnerability. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of relational risk among Brazilian public school students and to examine whether these profiles represent empirically distinct groups, combining person-centered and group-comparison approaches. Accordingly, a sample of 10,000 synthetic data was used, based on valid responses/answers from students of four Brazilian states (Rondônia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, and Maranhão) who completed the Relational Factors for the Risk of School Dropout Scale – Alternative version (IAFREE-A) [1]. The synthetic data was calculated using the Gaussian Copula technique, which considers the association between the observed variables in the dataset to estimate new responses, generating a new and bigger dataset. This approach was considered due to the General Law of Data Protection (LGPD) and the need to ensure the protection of participating children and adolescents. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted using the three factors of the Student–Student (SSt) dimension: interpersonal relations and social skills, educational expectations, and belonging/identification. Model selection followed an analytic hierarchy process based on multiple fit indices (Akogul & Erisoglu, 2017). The best-fitting solution was a three-class model (BIC = 52,390; entropy = 0.65), with profiles interpreted as low (30.7%), medium (49.7%), and high relational risk (19.6%). Kruskal–Wallis analyses showed significant differences between all classes for the SSt total score (χ² = 7,702.60; p < .001; ε² = 0.770), interpersonal relations (ε² = 0.687), and belonging (ε² = 0.654), indicating very large effects. Educational expectations differed less (ε² = 0.081). Profiles also differed in the student–school dimension (ε² = 0.359), particularly perception of school as a safe place (ε² = 0.318), and across student–school-professionals (ε² = 0.189), student–community (ε² = 0.171), and student–family relations (ε² = 0.150). Post hoc Dunn comparisons confirmed differences between all groups. Findings indicate well-separated latent profiles of relational risk, with peer relationships and school belonging emerging as central axes through which vulnerabilities accumulate and extend to broader institutional experiences, supporting a process-oriented understanding of school trajectory risk under LGPD-compliant research conditions.