Abstract
Cyberbullying is a common relational problem having negative repercussions on the academic performance of adolescents. Numerous questions remain to be answered with regard to the relationship between cyberbullying and school refusal behavior. This study examines school refusal profiles (measured by School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised) and assesses whether these profiles vary with respect to the level of victimization, aggression, aggression-victimization, and observation of cyberbullying (measured with the Screening of Harassment among Peers). The sample consisted of 1,102 Spanish high school students, aged 12–18 (M = 14.30, SD = 1.71). Latent class analysis revealed three school refusal behavior profiles: non-school refusal behavior, school refusal behavior by negative reinforcements (oriented to the avoidance of social evaluation and negative affectivity in school situations), and school refusal behavior by positive reinforcements (oriented to obtaining the attention of others with significant or tangible reinforcements). The ANOVA found statistically significant differences for all cyberbullying behaviors. Students with school refusal by negative reinforcements had significantly higher mean scores as compared to the other profiles in victimization, aggression, aggression-victimization, and observation behaviors, while the levels of cyberbullying were similar between students without school refusal and students with school refusal behavior by positive reinforcements. These findings underscore the need to consider priority interventions to prevent cyberbullying in children who refuse school for the purpose of avoiding situations of anxiety and negative emotions.
Highlights
School refusal behavior (SRB) is defined as the difficulty in attending or remaining in school for the entire day (Hendron and Kearney, 2011)
The latent class analysis (LCA) found that the class made up of three profiles with different levels of SRB, considering the four dimensions of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R), ANE, ESE, PA, and pursuit of tangible reinforcement (PTR), had the best adjustment for the Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and Entropy indicators
The results obtained from the post hoc tests indicate that the students with a SRB by negative reinforcements profile received significantly higher scores on victimization, aggression, aggression-victimization, and observation of cyberbullying than the non-SRB group and the group of students with SRB by positive reinforcement
Summary
School refusal behavior (SRB) is defined as the difficulty in attending or remaining in school for the entire day (Hendron and Kearney, 2011). This phenomenon has multiple causes and affects approximately 30% of all minors aged 7–17 (Mihalas, 2014; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2016). Chronic absenteeism may impair academic performance, being the most likely cause of early school drop-out, and placing minors at risk of developing problems such as drug consumption, delinquent behavior, social adjustment issues, and mental health problems (Dembo et al, 2013), leading to a decreased chance of attaining qualified and stable employment during adulthood (Wilson et al, 2008)
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