Classifying Students With School Refusal Behavior and Their Relationship to Learning Strategies

Abstract

Students with School Refusal Behaviour (SRB) are a diverse group, often associated with negative academic repercussions (e.g., low academic performance, learning difficulties or academic demotivation). The aims of this research were: 1) to identify school refusal behaviour profiles based on low and high scores on the four functional conditions assessed by the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and 2) to examine the relationship between SRB profiles and learning strategies. The SRAS-R and the Inventory of Learning and Study Strategies-High School version were administered to 1,261 students aged to 14 to 18 (M = 16.51; SD = 1.84). Four SRB profiles were obtained: SRB by positive reinforcement, Low SRB, SRB by negative reinforcement and Mixed SRB. School refusers belonging to the Mixed SRB and SRB by negative reinforcement profiles are characterised by low scores on learning strategies, except for the Anxiety dimension. The practical implications of these findings suggest that implementing study techniques and learning strategies programmes, in addition to courses on anxiety management and self-care will help students improve their learning paths and reduce anxiety-based school refusal.

Understanding school refusal behavior in adolescence: Risk profiles and attributional style for academic results

“…The findings support the first study hypothesis, since four profiles were identified, which coincide with the most common groups of adolescent SRB found in previous literature (Delgado et al, 2019;Giménez-Miralles, Gonzálvez, Sanmartín et al, 2021;Gonzálvez, Kearney et al, 2018). Thus, participants with low, moderately high, and high levels of ANA, ESE, PAS, and PTR were grouped into the groups non-SRB, moderately high SRB, and high SRB, respectively.…”

“…Authors recruited samples with an age range of 12-18 years old. Except for two works with Latin American students Gonzálvez, Kearney et al, 2018), all of them were conducted in the Spanish population (Delgado et al, 2019;Giménez-Miralles, Gonzálvez, Sanmartín et al, 2021;. In respect of the profile solutions, these works coincide in finding a group characterized by low levels of ANA, ESE, PAS, and PTR, which has been predominantly called non-SRB.…”

“…Four in eight works found a high SRB group and a moderately high SRB profile , who scored high and moderately high in the four explanatory factors examined, respectively. Few studies reported some different groups labeled as moderately low SRB (i.e., moderately low scores in ANA, ESE, PAS, and PTR) , SRB by Tangible Reinforcements (i.e., high scores in PTR) Gonzálvez, Kearney et al, 2018), SRB by Negative Reinforcements (i.e., high levels of ANA and ESE) (Delgado et al, 2019;Giménez-Miralles, Gonzálvez, Sanmartín et al, 2021), and SRB by Positive Reinforcements (i.e., high levels of PAS and PTR) (Delgado et al, 2019;Giménez-Miralles, Gonzálvez, Sanmartín et al, 2021;. In sum, the anxious, high, moderately high, and non-SRB profiles constitute the most common SRB profiles in adolescence.…”

“…To fulfill the study purpose, two hypotheses were formulated: Hypothesis 1. Considering the most common SRB profiles that have been previously identified in adolescence (Delgado et al, 2019;Giménez-Miralles, Gonzálvez, Sanmartín et al, 2021;Gonzé1lvez, Kearney et al, 2018), it was expected to find a four-profiles solution: non-SRB, moderately high SRB, high SRB, and anxious SRB (characterized by explanatory factors based on negative and positive reinforcement).…”