Anxiety as a risk factor for school absenteeism: what differentiates anxious school attenders from non-attenders?

Jo Magne Ingul,Hans M Nordahl

doi:10.1186/1744-859x-12-25

Abstract

BackgroundAnxiety is a major risk factor for problematic school absenteeism. However, most anxious students attend school. What differentiates anxious attenders from non-attenders?MethodHigh school students (N = 865) were assigned to groups based on anxiety and absenteeism scores. These groups were then tested for differences in risk factor profiles using discriminant analysis.ResultsAnxious school attenders were less affected by negative personality traits, total number of risk factors, social anxiety, panic, and behavioural and family problems. They also displayed greater resilience.ConclusionsThis study indicates that the risk for problematic school absenteeism increases as the number of risk factors aggregate and that treatment for anxious school refusal should be based on a profile of the individual's risk factors.

Highlights

Anxiety is a major risk factor for problematic school absenteeism
Hadwin [4] explored the relationship between trait anxiety and school attendance and found that elevated trait anxiety was associated with higher absenteeism, but that this relationship could be partially explained by motivational factors
With respect to type of anxiety, we expected that the high-absence adolescents would report more social anxiety problems, as social phobia has been shown to be a risk factor for premature school withdrawal in adults [5]. We addressed these questions by examining groups with different levels of anxiety and absence in a sample of 865 adolescents, analysing which individual risk factors differentiated between high and low absence in groups of anxious students

Summary

Introduction

Anxiety is a major risk factor for problematic school absenteeism. most anxious students attend school. Results: Anxious school attenders were less affected by negative personality traits, total number of risk factors, social anxiety, panic, and behavioural and family problems. Patients who left school early were more likely to have had a lifetime diagnosis of social phobia, a history of substance use, and a greater number of lifetime diagnoses These and other studies clearly indicate that anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders, especially social phobia, are associated with higher rates of school absenteeism [6,7,8] and indicate that there are usually comorbid psychiatric and social problems

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