The primary aim of this study was to investigate how students' perceptions of relationships with peers at school and teachers' classroom management are associated with school refusal-related reasons and truancy-related reasons for school nonattendance. The study included controls for emotional stability and relevant parental variables. A student self-report questionnaire was implemented, and students were recruited from 45 schools in seven municipalities in Norway. The survey was conducted at the end of the autumn term in 2012, with a total of 5,465 students from the 6th-10th grades participating. The sample of students was examined to obtain a subsample consisting of those students who reported that they had been absent from school at some time during the past 3 months (N = 3,629). Multivariate associations were studied in this subsample through the use of structural equation modeling. The findings of this study suggest that poor relationships with peers at school could be an important risk factor for school refusal and could be a moderate risk factor for truancy. Moreover, according to these results, teachers' classroom management could play a role in school refusal indirectly by preventing bullying and social exclusion by peers. Finally, a direct association of teachers' classroom management with school refusal-related and truancy-related reasons was found among secondary school students, suggesting that perceived poor support from teachers could increase the risk of school refusal and truancy among these students. The present study underscores the importance of efforts to prevent bullying as a measure to reduce school refusal. Finally, the findings imply that the role of school factors must always be taken into account in connection with unexcused school non-attendance.

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The current study examined the associations between students' perceptions of classroom interactions and students' emotional and behavioral engagement. Given the nested structure of the data, multilevel analyses were employed to examine these associations. A total of 1769 Norwegian fifth to tenth graders from 100 classes and 10 schools participated in a web-based survey. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel structural equation modeling. The results indicated that students who perceived high-quality classroom interactions were more engaged in school, and teachers' emotional support showed the strongest association with engagement at both levels. Furthermore, the findings indicated that primary school students were more engaged emotionally than lower secondary school students, and female students were more behaviorally engaged than male students. ARTICLE HISTORY

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