DISTINGUISHING ABSENTEE STUDENTS FROM REGULAR ATTENDERS - THE COMBINED INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL, FAMILY, AND SCHOOL FACTORS

In the present study the relationship between student attendance and p ersonal characteristics of the student, the student's family relations , and school variables were examined in a sample of 54 high school stu dents. Consistent with earlier reports, t-tests revealed statistically significant relationships between school absence and many student, fa mily, and school variables. The data were also analyzed using a stepwi se discriminant analysis. The results showed that the absentee and reg ular attending students could be distinguished based on a combined set of 6 variables representing each of the three domains of student, fam ily, and school characteristics. The results further revealed that sev eral variables that were statistically significant in the univariate a nalyses failed to be retained in the discriminant analysis, suggesting that these variables did not contribute sufficient unique variance to warrant their inclusion in the discriminant function. The implication s of school absence as a multifactored problem is discussed with respe ct to assessment and treatment effectiveness.