Identifying the Determinants of Chronic Absenteeism: A Bioecological Systems Approach

Abstract

Background/Context Chronic school absenteeism is a pervasive problem across the US; in early education, it is most rampant in kindergarten and its consequences are particularly detrimental, often leading to poorer academic, behavioral and developmental outcomes later in life. Though prior empirical research has identified a broad range of determinants of chronic absenteeism, there lacks a single, unified theoretically driven investigation examining how such factors concurrently explain the incidence of chronic absenteeism among our nation's youngest schoolchildren. Thus, it is difficult to determine the relative importance of one factor over another, hence making it challenging to develop appropriate supports and services to reduce school absences. Purpose/Research Questions Our study filled this critical void—we investigated multiple determinants of chronic absenteeism that were grounded, theoretically and empirically, in Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development. Specifically, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 and the method of hierarchical generalized linear modeling, we analyzed how the co-occurrence of key (a) process, (b) person, and (c) context (micro-, meso-, exo- and macrosystem) factors was associated with kindergarteners’ probability of being chronically absent. Findings/Results Children who have poorer health, higher internalizing behaviors, and more frequent engagement in learning activities at home had higher odds of chronic absenteeism. Also, children from larger families and of lower socioeconomic status faced increased odds of chronic absenteeism. Conversely, children holding positive attitudes towards school had lowered odds of chronic absenteeism, a finding that remained robust across socioeconomic status groups. Finally, parent–school connections were associated with lowered odds of absenteeism. Conclusions/Recommendations Overall, our findings strongly suggested that addressing chronic absenteeism will require comprehensive and multifaceted approaches that recognize these multiple factors. With this theoretically grounded, more descriptive approach, it is more feasible to identify key factors and subsequently design policies and practices to prevent absence behavior.

Socioeconomic status and school absenteeism: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

“…Only a small proportion of papers in our review discussed potential mechanisms in their literature reviews (Darmody et al ., 2008; Hunt & Hopko, 2009; Nolan et al ., 2013; Gottfried, 2014; Morrissey et al ., 2014; Gottfried & Gee, 2017; Lim et al ., 2019). Even among studies whose primary goal was to investigate the association between SES and school absenteeism, only a quarter provided some theoretical considerations on how SES affects school absence risk.…”

“…An important risk antecedent of school absenteeism identified in several studies is family socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., Gottfried & Gee, 2017; Gubbels et al ., 2019; Klein et al ., 2020). Students from lower SES backgrounds are over‐represented among those absent from school (e.g., Morrissey et al ., 2014; Gottfried & Gee, 2017; Gennetian et al ., 2018; Gubbels et al ., 2019). For instance, Garcia and Weiss (2018) found that 23.2% of students eligible for free and reduced‐price lunch (FRPL) missed three or more days of school per month compared to only 15.4% of those not eligible for FRPL.…”

Mental health and school absenteeism in children with long‐term physical conditions: A secondary analysis of the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys 2004 and 2007

“…Although associations between LTCs, mental health and absenteeism are well established, most research is cross sectional and the extent to which these difficulties persist is unknown. Furthermore, less is known about the relative impact of different types of LTC (Allison & Attisha, 2019; Gottfried & Gee, 2017), and the mental health and educational needs of CYP with different conditions may not be equal. This study investigates cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations of LTCs with mental health and school absenteeism.…”

Does the timing of kindergarten absences matter for children’s early school success?

“…Control variables were drawn from the kindergarten year and include: Child age, child gender (dummy coded, male = 1), child race/ethnicity (dummy coded so that White children were the referent group), home language (dummy coded so that children who spoke English at home were the referent group), parent years of education, parent work hours, parent marital status (dummy coded so that married parents were the referent group), income-to-needs-ratio, household size, number of children under 18 in the household, and parent age. In addition to these demographic covariates that prior studies suggest are correlated with children’s school absences (e.g., Gottfried & Gee, 2017), we also controlled for whether children attended a summer program focused on the transition to kindergarten (Bridge to Kindergarten; Duncan et al, 2018) along with parent engagement in kindergarten transition activities and parent home and school-based involvement. We adjusted for these additional indicators of parental engagement given evidence that children whose parents are more engaged in their education are less likely to be absent (Gottfried & Gee, 2017).…”

“…In addition to these demographic covariates that prior studies suggest are correlated with children's school absences (e.g., Gottfried & Gee, 2017), we also controlled for whether children attended a summer program focused on the transition to kindergarten (Bridge to Kindergarten; Duncan et al, 2018) along with parent engagement in kindergarten transition activities and parent home and school-based involvement. We adjusted for these additional indicators of parental engagement given evidence that children whose parents are more engaged in their education are less likely to be absent (Gottfried & Gee, 2017). And because children were assessed between September and November (fall of kindergarten) and again between April and June (spring of kindergarten and first grade), all models also control for the time between assessments.…”