TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping inequalities in school attendance
T2 - The relationship between dimensions of socioeconomic status and forms of school absence
AU - Klein, Markus
AU - Sosu, Edward M.
AU - Dare, Shadrach
N1 - Economic and Social Research Council ES/R004943/1
Joint Information Systems Committee
Scottish Funding Council, the Chief Scientist’s Office, and the Scottish Government
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - In this article, we investigated whether and to what extent various dimensions of socioeconomic background (parental education, parental class, free school meal registration, housing status, and neighborhood deprivation) predict overall school absences and different reasons for absenteeism (truancy, sickness, family holidays and temporary exclusion) among 4,620 secondary school pupils in Scotland. Students were drawn from a sample of the Scottish Longitudinal Study comprising linked Census data and administrative school records. Using fractional logit models and logistic regressions, we found that all dimensions of socioeconomic background were uniquely linked to overall absences. Multiple measures of socioeconomic background were also associated with truancy, sickness-related absence, and temporary exclusion. Social housing and parental education had the most pervasive associations with school absences across all forms of absenteeism. Our findings highlight the need to consider the multidimensionality of socioeconomic background in policy and research decisions on school absenteeism. A more explicit focus on narrowing the socioeconomic gap in absenteeism is required to close the inequality gap in educational and post-school outcomes.
AB - In this article, we investigated whether and to what extent various dimensions of socioeconomic background (parental education, parental class, free school meal registration, housing status, and neighborhood deprivation) predict overall school absences and different reasons for absenteeism (truancy, sickness, family holidays and temporary exclusion) among 4,620 secondary school pupils in Scotland. Students were drawn from a sample of the Scottish Longitudinal Study comprising linked Census data and administrative school records. Using fractional logit models and logistic regressions, we found that all dimensions of socioeconomic background were uniquely linked to overall absences. Multiple measures of socioeconomic background were also associated with truancy, sickness-related absence, and temporary exclusion. Social housing and parental education had the most pervasive associations with school absences across all forms of absenteeism. Our findings highlight the need to consider the multidimensionality of socioeconomic background in policy and research decisions on school absenteeism. A more explicit focus on narrowing the socioeconomic gap in absenteeism is required to close the inequality gap in educational and post-school outcomes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090849615&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105432
DO - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105432
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090849615
SN - 0190-7409
VL - 118
JO - Children and Youth Services Review
JF - Children and Youth Services Review
M1 - 105432
ER -