Differentiation Between School Attendance Problems: Why and How?

School attendance problems (SAPs) are heterogeneous with respect to etiology and presentation. The long history of conceptualizing SAPs has led to a vast array of terms and definitions as well as different perspectives on the most helpful approach to classification. For educators, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, this presents a challenge in understanding, assessing, and intervening with SAPs. This paper outlines evolution in the conceptualization of SAPs, focusing on two contemporary approaches to differentiating between them. One approach draws on the longstanding differentiation between SAP types labeled school refusal, truancy, and school withdrawal. A fourth type of SAP, labeled school exclusion, is also considered. The other approach focuses on the function of absenteeism, measured via the School Refusal Assessment Scale (SRAS). Anecdotal and scientific support for the SAP typology is presented, along with the benefits and shortcomings of the SRAS approach to differentiation. The paper offers suggestions for how to differentiate between SAPs and introduces the SNACK, a brief screening measure that permits differentiation by SAP type

Early adolescent disclosure and parental knowledge regarding online activities: Social anxiety and parental rule-setting as moderators

Early adolescents spend a lot of time online, yet little is currently known about the links between parental rule-setting, adolescent disclosure about online activities, and whether social anxiety may interfere with these processes. Using a longitudinal sample of 526 adolescents (269 girls; Mage = 14.00) and their parents (79% mothers, Mage = 43.66), the results from the current study showed low correspondence between parental knowledge, adolescent disclosure, as well as parents’ and adolescents’ ratings of parental legitimacy to set boundaries about online activities. High social anxiety interacted with high adolescent-rated parental rule-setting in predicting the least disclosure about chatting with strangers and posting online content over time. Also, high social anxiety interacted with low parent-rated control to predict more adolescent disclosure about chatting with strangers and money spent online over time. Thus, social anxiety and parental rule-setting moderated the links between disclosure and knowledge for some early adolescent online activities. Our results conflict with the value typically placed on parental rule-setting in online contexts, at least for socially anxious adolescents

Co-rumination buffers the link between social anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence

Objectives: We examined whether co-rumination with online friends buffered the link between social anxiety and depressive symptoms over time in a community sample. Methods: In a sample of 526 participants (358 girls; Mage = 14.05) followed at three time points, we conducted a latent cross-lagged model with social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and co-rumination, controlling for friendship stability and friendship quality, and adding a latent interaction between social anxiety and co-rumination predicting depressive symptoms. Results: Social anxiety predicted depressive symptoms, but no direct links between social anxiety and co-rumination emerged. Instead, co-rumination buffered the link between social anxiety and depressive symptoms for adolescents with higher but not lower levels of social anxiety. Conclusions: These findings indicate that co-rumination exerted a positive influence on interpersonal relationships by diminishing the influence from social anxiety on depressive symptoms over time

Individually tailored internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for adolescents with anxiety disorders: A pilot effectiveness study

This is the first study of adolescents suffering from anxiety disorder in Sweden to receive individually tailored internet-based treatment within a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. The primary aim of this effectiveness study was to examine the effects of tailored internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy for adolescents. 11 adolescents, aged 15-19 years, were allocated to treatment after assessment. Screening consisted of online questionnaires followed by a diagnostic face-to-face interview at the clinic. Treatment consisted of individually prescribed cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) text modules adapted for the age group. Therapist guidance was via an online platform along with telephone support and face-to-face sessions if needed. Statistically significant improvements were found on all dependent measures immediately following treatment for the 8 adolescents who completed treatment. The within-group effect size on the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the primary outcome measure, was d = 2.51 at post-treatment and 80 percent (4/5) adolescents no longer met DSM-IV criteria for their primary anxiety disorder as measured by the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM- IV: Child and Parent Versions. Based on the results from this pilot study the tentative conclusion might be that tailored internet delivered CBT could be useful for adolescents with anxiety disorders along with standard treatment delivered in child and adolescent psychiatric clinics

Investigating a socially anxious-impulsive subgroup of adolescents: A prospective community study

Previous research has identified a subgroup of socially anxious adults who are both anxious and impulsive. To date, however, this subgroup has not been identified in adolescence. Therefore, in this study we aimed to identify this subgroup in a sample of adolescents. In addition, we hypothesized that this subgroup would be higher on problem behaviors, and that these processes would be moderated by gender. We used longitudinal data from 714 adolescents who were in the 7th and 8th grades at Time 1. They were followed annually for three years. Cluster analyses identified an anxious-inhibited subgroup as well as an anxious-impulsive subgroup in early adolescence (Time 1). The socially anxious-impulsive adolescent boys were generally higher on both intoxication frequency and delinquency compared with all other adolescents in all clusters at each time point. Findings suggest that social anxiety subgroups may differ on problem behavior, and that early detection of an anxious-impulsive subgroup may be important to prevent maladjustment, especially for adolescent boys

The importance of perceived care and connectedness with friends and parents for adolescent social anxiety

Nonclinical social anxiety in adolescence can be highly problematic, as it likely affects current and especially new social interactions. Relationships with significant others, such as close friends, mothers, and fathers, could aid socially anxious adolescents’ participation in social situations, thereby helping reduce feelings of social anxiety. We examined whether making friends as well as high friendship quality help reduce social anxiety over time, and whether friends’, mothers’, and fathers’ care interact in reducing social anxiety. Using longitudinal data from 2,194 participants in a social network (48% girls; Mage = 13.58) followed for 3 years, we estimated friendship selection and influence processes via a continuous time-modeling approach using SIENA. We controlled for the effects of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, gender, age, and family structure. Our findings suggest that perceived care by friends mediated the effect of making friends on social anxiety. Perceptions of mother and father, as well as friend care and connectedness, respectively, did not interact in decreasing social anxiety. Nonetheless, care and connectedness with mothers, fathers, and friends jointly predicted decreases in social anxiety. Caring relationships with friends and parents each play a role in mutually protecting early adolescents against increasing in social anxiety over time

Improving school attendance by enhancing communication among stakeholders: establishment of the International Network for School Attendance (INSA)

The newly established International Network for School Attendance (INSA) works to promote school attendance, reduce absenteeism, and resolve school attendance problems (SAPs). Our motivation for establishing INSA stems from the knowledge that school attendance offers innumerable benefits to children and adolescents (hereafter referred to as youth) and that sub-optimal attendance holds many liabilities