School truancy among Turkish high school students: A test of General Strain Theory

Abstract

School absenteeism is a complicated problem with a variety of causes. It has been shown to be one of the main predictors of school drop-outs as well as leading to delinquency and criminal behavior in adulthood. This study examines the applicability of General Strain Theory on educational factors by considering truancy as a risk behavior. In this empirical study, we test the explanatory powers of certain kinds of strain, including school strain, economic deprivation, negative life events, anger, college plans, past victimization, and depression on students’ truancy. Data were drawn from the part of 2008 Youth in Europe Survey conducted in Istanbul in 2008. The sample consists of 2445 high school students. Results indicate that school strain, anger, and negative life events are significantly associated with likelihood of truancy while past victimization and economic strain have no effect. College goal and depression, on the other hand, have relatively weaker effects on students’ school absenteeism. Findings revealed that there is a relationship between cutting classes and certain kinds of strain among Turkish adolescents. The study also demonstrates that General Strain Theory is applicable for problematic behaviors in an educational context and generalizable to countries other than the U.S.

Strain and Deviant Reactions in Compulsory Military Service: An Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms

“…The results of the series of statistical analyses generally support our hypotheses, with a few exceptions. Specifically, supporting our first hypothesis, the binary logistic regression results demonstrated that unit strain, negative life experiences, and physical victimization were all associated with an increase in the likelihood of engaging in criminal offending, drug use, and heavy alcohol use, findings that also confirm those of previous research conducted on civilian samples and validate these findings in a military context (Arter, 2008; Aseltine et al, 2000; Orak & Solakoglu, 2017; Slocum, 2010; Solakoglu & Orak, 2016).…”

“…Research has shown that military personnel are subjected to a variety of stressors intrinsic to military organizations such as difficult and dangerous duties, negative unit experiences, physical exhaustion, blockage of career goals, exposure to traumatic events, negative combat experiences, and long deployment periods (Grinker & Spiegel, 1945;Hoge et al, 2004;Mitchell et al, 2011;Pflanz, 1999). It is also well-established that there is a strong correlation between stress and deviant behavior (Arter, 2008;Aseltine et al, 2000;Orak & Solakoglu, 2017;Slocum, 2010;Solakoglu & Orak, 2016). Yet the extant research has generally failed to address the mechanisms by which stressful experiences among military service-members lead to deviant reactions.…”

A Qualitative Research Related to the Students’ Absenteeism Reasons in Turkey

“…Absenteeism is an undesirable behaviour because in long term, absenteeism can make students disadvantaged to be a productive person, and the tendency of students who have the habit of not attending school may increase (Önder, 2017, p. 362). It has been frequently mentioned in previous studies (ERG, 2015;MEB, 2015MEB, , 2016MEB, , 2018MEB, , 2019OECD, 2014;Solakoğlu, & Orak, 2016;TEDMEM, 2019, p. 7) that there are important problems related to school absenteeism in Turkish education system. To prevent student absenteeism, the reasons for absenteeism should be determined firstly.…”

“…Türk eğitim sisteminde okula devamsızlık ile ilgili önemli sorunlar olduğu daha önce yapılan çalışmalarda da (ERG, 2015;MEB, 2015MEB, , 2016MEB, , 2018MEB, , 2019OECD, 2014;Solakoğlu ve Orak, 2016;TEDMEM, 2019, s. 7) sık sık dile getirilmiştir. Örneğin, e-okul verilerinin kullanıldığı bir çalışmaya göre, Türkiye'de 10 gün ve üstü devamsızlık oranları oldukça yüksektir (ERG, 2015).…”