A team of researchers based in the UK, affiliated with the University of Exeter and the University of Bristol, recently investigated the relationship between mental health and school attendance. Katie Finning and colleagues conducted a systematic review examining overall absenteeism, excused and medical absences, unexcused absences, and school refusal within 11 studies across six countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. Their results point to connections between anxiety, unexcused absences, and school refusal, and also highlight the need for future research examining trends over time to build upon the cross-sectional research currently available.

“To date, there have been no systematic reviews to investigate the relationship between anxiety and school attendance,” they write. “Given the frequent emphasis in the literature on the presumed role of anxiety in poor attendance, the current study aims to systematically review the evidence regarding the association between anxiety and poor school attendance. Although anxiety is commonly comorbid with depression, much of the literature in relation to school attendance has separated these two constructs.”

A spectrum of individual, family, and community-level factors influence attendance rates. Access to a community, academic material, and professional opportunities may be impacted by school attendance, and, for many students, learning and social opportunities at home represent an insufficient alternative. According to Finning and team, about 10% of students in the UK are absent for 10% or more of the school year. Because this is such a large portion of the student population, it is worth disentangling some of the variables contributing to low attendance.

[For more on this story by Sadie Cathcart, go to https://www.madinamerica.com/2...blame-missed-school/]