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School refusal behavior: Latent class analysis approach and its relationship with psychopathological symptoms

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Abstract

School attendance problems are a serious issue for educators, psychologists and physicians. Nonattendance is a key risk factor for academic failure, violence, psychiatric disorders or economic deprivation. This study aimed to identify different school refusal behavior profiles and to determine whether these profiles differ from each other based on several psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism). The participants were 1894 Spanish adolescents (53% boys) aged 15–18 years (M = 16.84, SD = 1.03). The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45) were administered. Latent class analysis revealed four school refusal behavior profiles: Non-School Refusal Behavior, High School Refusal Behavior, Moderately Low School Refusal Behavior and Moderately High School Refusal Behavior. The results indicated that the High School Refusal Behavior and Moderately High School Refusal Behavior groups were the most maladaptive profiles and revealed the highest mean scores on the psychopathological symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of promoting good mental health to prevent school refusal behaviors.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and Fondos FEDER with the grant number RTI2018–098197-B-I00 awarded to José M. García-Fernández and the project GV/2019/075 awarded to Carolina Gonzálvez.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Development Psychology and Teaching, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain

    Carolina Gonzálvez, María Vicent, Ricardo Sanmartín, Antonio M. Pérez-Sánchez & José M. García-Fernández

  2. Department of Development Psychology and Education, University of Murcia, C/ Campus Universitario, 11, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Ángela Díaz-Herrero

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  1. Carolina Gonzálvez
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  2. Ángela Díaz-Herrero
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Correspondence to Ángela Díaz-Herrero.

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Gonzálvez, C., Díaz-Herrero, Á., Vicent, M. et al. School refusal behavior: Latent class analysis approach and its relationship with psychopathological symptoms. Curr Psychol 41, 2078–2088 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00711-6

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