Assessing Reasons for School Non-attendance |
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| Authors: | Trude Havik Edvin Bru Sigrun K Ertesvåg |
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| Institution: | 1. University of Stavanger, Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Educationtrude.havik@uis.no;3. University of Stavanger, Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education |
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| Abstract: | The aim of the present study is to assess reasons for school non-attendance including somatic symptoms, subjective health complaints, truancy, and school refusal and to investigate the relationship of these with gender, grade, and self-reported special educational needs. The study is based on a self-reported questionnaire distributed to students recruited from seven municipalities in Norway. The total sample included 5,465 students in the sixth to tenth grades. The measurement model yielded indices of good fit, and the four suggested dimensions of reasons for school non-attendance were supported. Subjective health complaints emerged as the most commonly reported reason for school non-attendance, whereas 6.2% of students reported that their non-attendance “quite often” was due to truancy- or school refusal-related reasons. There was a tendency for students who report special educational needs to report more truancy reasons and for females to report more school refusal reasons. Implications for research and practice are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | school non-attendance truancy school refusal student self-reports |
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