Skipping school in early adolescents in the Czech Republic: Association with problems and conflicts in the family and at school
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Prace Psychologiczne LXIII, Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis No 3601; Sytuacje konfliktu społecznego. Przyczyny - Sposoby rozwiązywania - Skutki |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Psychology |
| Keywords | skipping; truancy; school phobia; school refusal; negative attitude to school; conflicts in the family and at school |
| Description | Our study focused on the prevalence of absenteeism at Czech primary schools and on the exploration of potential correlates and causes of this phenomenon in early adolescents. We were interested in differences between adolescents who never skipped school and those who described themselves as school-skippers, especially with regard to family and school factors. The participants were asked to complete two self-report measures: a questionnaire on absenteeism from school designed for the purpose of the study and The School Refusal Assessment Scale (SRAS-C) by Kearney & Silverman (1993). On a sample composed of early adolescents (N = 200), we found that as much as 31.5% had some experience with skipping school. When the criterion was changed to the number of unexcused absences, the number was diminished to 1%, which corresponds to the official figures. The results also suggested that school skippers were more likely than non-skippers to have a parent who served a sentence in jail, have problematic relationships with their parents, run away from home, spend less free time with their parents, and be bullied by their peers. On the other hand, the data did not provide evidence for school skippers to come from single-parent families or suffer from psychological strain more often than non-skippers do. |
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