Effect of Sociodemographics, Health‐Related Problems, and Family Structure on Chronic Absenteeism Among Children

Abstract

BACKGROUND From 5 to 7.5 million schoolchildren are chronically absent, defined as missing ≥15 days of school within a year. Students miss schools due to various reasons such as health, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors. We examined child's health and behavior, family structure, and sociodemographics to understand chronic absenteeism. METHODS The population included children ages 6 to 17 years from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey years 2008‐2013. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify the risk factors of chronic absenteeism, adjusting for the complex sampling design. RESULTS Among sociodemographic variables, age ≥14 years, race/ethnicity, lower‐income family, public health insurance, US born, and speaking English at home were associated with absenteeism. Asians, Mexican Hispanics, and blacks have lower absenteeism than whites. Among health‐related variables, children using an inhaler for asthma, having behavioral problems, and less healthy than other children were more likely to be chronically absent. Among family variables, a smaller family size was a risk factor for absenteeism. CONCLUSIONS Asthma and behavioral problems were highly associated with chronic absenteeism. The identification of children at risk for chronic absenteeism will help the educational professionals identify the barriers to academic achievements and develop integrated educational interventions and policies to support disadvantaged children.

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.…”

Candidate gene screening for lipid deposition using combined transcriptomic and proteomic data from Nanyang black pigs

“…Generally, the oxidative status of pork helps to determine its pH value after slaughter, drop loss, and IMF content [ 37 ]. Additionally, endogenous catalase regulates the polarization of adipose macrophages, thus inhibiting inflammation and insulin resistance in humans [ 38 ]. Catalase-knockout mice showed exacerbated insulin resistance, amplified oxidative stress, and accelerated macrophage infiltration into white adipose tissues [ 38 ].…”

“…Additionally, endogenous catalase regulates the polarization of adipose macrophages, thus inhibiting inflammation and insulin resistance in humans [ 38 ]. Catalase-knockout mice showed exacerbated insulin resistance, amplified oxidative stress, and accelerated macrophage infiltration into white adipose tissues [ 38 ]. Unlike FASN and SLC25A20 , CAT displayed a divergent expression pattern between its mRNAs and proteins, indicating complex post-transcriptome regulatory mechanisms and functional networks either from multiple-omics [ 39 ] or CAT analysis [ 40 ].…”

National Trends in Pediatric Headache and Associated Functional Limitations

“…1 When assessing risk factors for school absenteeism, our findings regarding chronic headache add to a large literature documenting school absenteeism as a consequence of childhood health problems. 15 Recurrent headache can make concentration difficult in classes and result in missed class time when seeking treatment (eg, going to the office to receive medication). Additionally, missed days increase makeup work and missed class material, which leads to increased stress, which can contribute further to ongoing headache days.…”

“…Additionally, missed days increase makeup work and missed class material, which leads to increased stress, which can contribute further to ongoing headache days. ADHD and other behavior problems also contribute to school absenteeism 15 and may co-occur with headache, but our study excluded this subpopulation to better identify the independent association between headache and school attendance. Other mental health or behavioral conditions (eg, depression, anxiety) could not be included in our study as they were not consistently collected over the study period.…”