The social, emotional and behavioural difficulties of primary school children with poor attendance records

The Ecological Context of Chronic School Absenteeism in the Elementary Grades: Table 1:

“…Second, the findings from this study expand on the existing literature on chronic absenteeism and offer information critical for the continued improvement of chronic absenteeism interventions for elementary school-age children. Information on the multitude of factors affecting chronic absenteeism in young children echoes the theme of complexity found in the literature ( Carroll, 2013;Chang & Romero, 2008;Reid, 2008Reid, , 2012Romero & Lee, 2008;Thornton et al, 2013;Zhang, 2003). It is perhaps most notable that every single worker and supervisor cited an economic need issue as a primary factor contributing to children's school absenteeism, and this assessment is supported by the published literature, which consistently reports strong relationships between family poverty and chronic absenteeism ( Chang & Romero, 2008;Reid, 2012;Romero & Lee, 2008;Thornton et al, 2013;Zhang, 2003), suggesting that chronic absenteeism reflects a larger socioeconomic issue rather than a problem specific to an individual family.…”

“…C hronic absenteeism from school has been defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year ( Chang & Romero, 2008). Although chronic absenteeism is frequently discussed as a problem for secondary school students, researchers, policymakers, and educational leaders are beginning to more closely examine the issue among elementary school-age students, defined here as students in kindergarten through fifth grade (grades K-5) ( Carroll, 2013;Chang & Romero, 2008;Lehr, Sinclair, & Christenson, 2004;McCluskey, Bynum, & Patchin, 2004;Rhodes, Thomas, Lemieux, Cain, & Guin, 2010;Romero & Lee, 2008, 2007Thornton, Darmody, & McCoy, 2013). The National Center for Children in Poverty, using nationwide data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort, found that over 11 percent of children in kindergarten and 9 percent of children in first grade are chronically absent ( Chang & Romero, 2008).…”

“…Current literature on chronic absenteeism in young children has identified multiple contributing factors, including family mobility ( Blazer, 2011;Chang & Romero, 2008), living with a single parent ( Romero & Lee, 2008), mental health problems ( Blazer, 2011;Carroll, 2013, Chang & Romero, 2008Reid, 2008), parental unemployment ( Romero & Lee, 2008), lack of parental understanding about school policies and priorities ( Blazer, 2011), and family poverty ( Chang & Romero, 2008;Reid, 2012;Romero & Lee, 2008;Thornton et al, 2013;Zhang, 2003). In this study we apply Bronfenbrenner's (1979) original ecological systems theory as a framework for understanding and analyzing the multiple influences on chronic absenteeism in the early grades.…”

Motivations for adolescent offending and truancy from school: retrospective interviews with adults recently released from a custodial prison sentence in England

“…The act of continuous absenteeism has been identified as a precursor to criminality ( Lehr et al., 2004 ; Loeber and Farrington, 2000 ; McCluskey et al., 2004 ). Furthermore, disengagement with the educational process is associated with lower levels of achievement within the classroom ( Havik et al., 2015 ), and various social, emotional and behavioural difficulties once widely referred to as ‘maladjustment’ ( Carroll, 2013 ; Henry, 2007 ; Lim and Lee, 2016 ). Where a child’s interest is not engaged, the result is likely to be difficulties concentrating, non-participation and reduced attendance ( Tennant, 2004 ; Vierhaus et al., 2016 ).…”