Determinants of school attendance in elementary school students in Japan: a structural equation model

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health

Nobuyuki Sano¹  Hiromi Nakamura-Thomas²  Donald Maciver³ 

[1] Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka International University of Health and Welfare, 3-6-40 Momochihara, Sawara ku, Fukuoka city, Fukuoka, Japan;Graduate School of Health, Medicine and Welfare, School of Health, Medicine and Welfare, Saitama Prefectural University, 820 San-no-miya, Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan;School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University, Queen Margaret University Way, EH21 6UU, Musselburgh, UK;

关键词: School attendance;    Friends;    School teachers;    Positive relationships;    Elementary school;    Japanese;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13034-021-00391-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundManaging school nonattendance is a priority worldwide. Frequent school nonattendance in early school years has immediate and long-term negative effects. Although strategies to address nonattendance are being developed and implemented, the number of students with school nonattendance issues is increasing. In this study, we explored students’ feelings and perceptions about attending school and the potential determinants of a positive attitude towards attending school.MethodsWe hypothesized that a positive perception towards attending school was influenced by relationships, perceptions of current circumstances, subjective health, and having someone to share experiences and thoughts with. For examining the hypothesized model, an original questionnaire with 14 items was developed, including perceptions towards school attendance (an item), relationships with friends and school teachers (5 items), current circumstances (4 items), subjective health (3 items), and the individuals available to share experiences and thoughts with (1 item). In total, 6860 children submitted the questionnaire (85.3% response rate) and 6841 responses were included to examine the model. Children were 10 or 11 years old, and selected from 111 state-run schools in 8 randomly selected school districts.ResultsThe final model demonstrated good fit and showed that the latent variable of relationships with friends and school teachers directly impacted on how children felt about attending school. The latent variable of subjective health also directly impacted on how children felt about attending school but not strongly. Other latent variables were not significant.ConclusionsThe importance of positive relationships with friends and teachers in overcoming school nonattendance has been emphasized in previous studies. This study has provided evidence that these relationships impacted children’s positive perception about attending school in a large sample of students aged 10–11 years. The latent variable of subjective health may require more items to capture mental health.

【 授权许可】

CC BY