Children's Tendency to be Absent From School and Their School-Life Skills: Transition From Elementary to Junior High School

The present study focused on relations between the tendency toward non-attendance at school and the school-life skills of children who were in the process of the transition from elementary school to junior high school. Participants (N=383) completed questionnaires when they were in the sixth grade (elementary school) and again when they were in the seventh grade (junior high school). The main results were as follows : (a) All the tendencies of the students to be absent from school when in elementary school were related to their study skills. The sixth graders who indicated that they wanted to skip school had less good communication skills; those who reported that they wanted to play instead of study were engaged in fewer group activities and had fewer health-related skills. (b) Almost all of the students' tendencies to be truant when they were in junior high school were related to their study, health maintenance, and communication skills. (c) The changes in all the students' tendencies to be absent from school when they got to junior high school were related to their study and health maintenance skills. The students who reported wanting to take time off from school had fewer group activity skills, and those who wanted to stay at home had a decreased variety of skills compared to when they were in elementary school. Those who reported that when they were in junior high school, they felt an increase in the desire to play rather than study, or to engage in delinquent activities, had less good career-decision skills. Those students who had a tendency to show psychological and physical symptoms had less good communication skills.