Truancy in the United States: Examining temporal trends and correlates by race, age, and gender

Abstract

Background Truancy has long been regarded a common problem in urgent need of effective intervention. Knowledge about factors associated with truancy can guide the development and implementation of interventions. Method This paper examined trends in truancy rates between 2002–2014 and correlates of truancy across racial/ethnic groups. Variables of interest included sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, gender, socio-economic background), behavioral factors (e.g., substance use, violence), and psychosocial factors (e.g., academic engagement, grades, parental control). Using data from a large sample of adolescents (n=209,393; 12–17 years) we estimated truancy prevalence rates and examined trends and correlates via regression analyses. Results Truancy rates remained constant between 2002 (10.8%) and 2014 (11.1%). Rates were highest among older youth, females, and Hispanic youth. For all racial/ethnic groups, truancy was significantly correlated with alcohol and marijuana use, fighting, the propensity to take risks, and lower academic engagement and school grades. Other factors were differentially associated with racial/ethnic groups. This divergence in risk patterns for different racial/ethnic groups points to some heterogeneity amongst truant youth. Discussion Despite truancy reduction efforts, truancy rates have remained stable. Efforts to prevent truancy and to intervene with truant youth may need to target risk factors more prevalent in specific racial/ethnic groups.

The Kids and Teens at School (KiTeS) Framework: An Inclusive Bioecological Systems Approach to Understanding School Absenteeism and School Attendance Problems

“…For example, Havik et al (2015) reported a tendency for youth with special educational needs to explain their own absences in terms of truancy rather than school refusal. Maynard et al (2017) reported divergent risk patterns for different racial/ethnic groups of truanting youth. One finding was that non-Hispanic White youth using illicit drugs were at higher odds of truanting relative to those not using illicit drugs, whereas this difference was not observed among African-American youth and Hispanic youth.…”

“…Absence rates tend to increase as students get older and move through school, peaking in high school (Hancock et al, 2013;U.S Department of Education, 2016;Skedgell and Kearney, 2018). Links between gender and absenteeism are somewhat mixed and may differ by type of SAP (Havik et al, 2015;Maynard et al, 2017;Skedgell and Kearney, 2018). Race and ethnicity are also associated with chronic absenteeism, with US national data showing American Indian, Pacific Islander, and Black students more likely to be absent for three or more weeks compared with their White peers (U.S Department of Education, 2016).…”

School Refusal or Truancy? A Qualitative Study of Misconceptions Among School Personnel About Absenteeism of Children From Immigrant Families

“…Studies have underlined the higher prevalence of absenteeism among ethnic minorities (15) and noted that SAPS among children of immigrants may be a manifestation of systemic discrimination, which could be interpreted as school exclusion (16). Bourdieu and Passeron, in the early 1960s, theorized about the role of school systems in the reproduction of social inequalities (17).…”

Policy With an Asterisk: Understanding How Staff in Alternative School Settings Negotiate a Mandatory Attendance Policy to Meet the Needs of Their Students

“…Moreover, many youths live in tumultuous households, and do not have the stability in their lives to be present at school consistently (Wilson et al, 2008). A substantial portion of absentees come from an economically disadvantaged position (Reid, 2013;Maynard et al, 2017), and living in or near poverty can limit a student's ability to attend in a number of ways, such as: lack of transportation; little money for food, clothes, and/or school supplies; frequent housing disruptions; living in dangerous and crime prone areas; involvement in the criminal justice system; having to earn an income; and, the perceived irrelevance of education (Hinz et al, 2003;Nichols, 2003;Brandibas et al, 2004;Branham, 2004;Darmody et al, 2008;Leonard, 2011;Marvul, 2012). Schools too cause absenteeism.…”