Dr.Damanjit Sandhu Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology Punjabi University, Patiala, INDIA

The picture ‘THE TRUANT’ by Thomas Webster, British artist 1800-1886.

A snap shot at the history of truancy .

This picture is nearly 170 yrs old which describes two young children running away from school standing outside their classrooms anxiously looking at the activities inside.

Shows that the concept of truancy has been present historically and it is not a new concept.

‘Truancy in Adolescence” attaches with it various kinds of activities while away from school. In this regard, Kline has linked truancy and running away, with man’s roving instincts, linking it to the migratory instincts of animals and birds.

In India, the education history shows a notorious character for its lack of social inclusiveness.

Till the 19th century AD, education was largely considered a privilege restricted to persons at the higher end of the caste and class spectrum. In the ancient and medieval India education was a privilege available only to a chosen few.

It was in 2008 in India that the Indian parliament had passed the historic ‘right of children to free & compulsory education bill 2008’ which envisages providing free and compulsory education to 6 to 14 yrs old children.

From the time of compulsory education, truancy has also been a problem as many youngsters are not willing to attend school regularly for one reason or another (Van Breda, 2006).

In the list of education for all (EFA) development index, among 125 countries, India ranks 99th, even though there have been reduction in the number of out of school children since 2004.

WHAT IS TRUANCY? Deliberate absence from school on the part of the

learner without the knowledge and consent of the parent or absence of a learner from school for which no reasonable or acceptable excuse is given.(Kee,2001)

Stoll (1990) defines truancy as ‘absence from school for no legitimate reason’.

Whitney (1994) defines truancy as absence that has not been authorised by the school and where leave has not been given or approved.

However, Robins and Ratcliff (1980) adopt a less restrictive definition by referring to truancy as 'absence from school without an acceptable reason, whether or not the parents know and approve.

Much of research on truancy has centered on areas like children at risk for truancy, truancy as a predictor for future delinquent and criminal activity , absence from school, factors leading to truancy but little research is done with a focus on the reasons given by youth as to why they are truant .

At the same time it is important to identify truancy during the adolescent period itself as it has both immediate consequences and long term consequences, such as reduced academic achievement because students have more limited opportunities for learning when they are absent from class.

Truancy stems from a broad range of factors and is a serious problem for schools leading to a negative set of circumstances.

Truancy can be considered to be a multidimensional experience and where each case is unique with the combination of various social, psychological, and institutional factors contributing to the learner’s truant behaviour.

‘truancy is not the problem but an indicator of other problems’.

Slang expressions

South Africa- bunking, skipping or jippo. New Zealand and Australia - wagging, "jigging", ditching,

or skipping school. United Kingdom and India- bunking

(off) or skiving or wagging Wales- sagging. Liverpool- bunking or cutting class, doggin, skiving, playing

tickie or puggin. United States and Canada - hookey, playing

hookey, ditching, dipping, jigging, sluffing, skipping, cutting class, or simply just cutting.

Newfoundland and Labrador- "pipping off", and truant students are described as being "on the pip".

Singapore and Malaysia- fly Pakistan - bunking.

A combination of family, school, peer, individual factors may be involved (Reid 1999).

Truancy is not an individual issue,but an indicator of family problems & unmet physical ,psychosocial, academic needs (Baker, Sigmon&Nugent 2001)

FAMILY FACTORS Violence at home or

around

Substance use/abuse at home

Lack of parental involvement

Poor living conditions

Sibling rivalry

Family disorganization

Lack of parental disciplinary practices

Physical abuse or neglect

Lack of family support for education & other goals.

Lack of physical room/space

Single parent households

Poverty

Parents with low educational achievements

SCHOOL FACTORS Poor student –teacher

relationship

Unsafe school environment

Poor school discipline

Overcrowded classrooms

Avoidance of tests/assignments

Finding school boring

Ineffective teaching methods

Physical manhandling by teachers

Inconsistent& ineffective school attendance policies

PEER FACTORS Bullying

Social isolation by peers

Peer pressure to bunk

Loneliness

Poor relationship with fellow students

Problem in making friends

Peer rejection

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS Poor self-esteem

Feelings of academic incompetence

Unmet mental health needs

Lack of personal ambition

Low school achievement

Gang involvement

Less satisfactory experiences at school

Curiosity to bunk

Moodiness

Lack of social skills

Feeling of thrill

Truancy in adolescence is commonly becoming a problem in today’s society .

Communities with high rates of truancy are likely to have correspondingly high rates of daytime criminal activity.

In the long term, the poorer educational and occupational attainment of formerly truant students is likely to increase their risk for adult criminality and incarceration.

When truancy leads to school failure or dropping out of school, youth are also likely to experience higher rates of unintended pregnancies, greater instability in career paths, higher rates of unemployment, and lower lifetime earnings.

Early truancy is found to contribute to juvenile delinquency(Garry 1996), substance use, abuse, in adolescents & adulthood, early sexual behaviour & teen pregnancy (Halfors et al 2002)

Truant youth have also been found to be involved in criminal acts such as burglary, auto theft and vandalism.

HEALTH-RISK BEHAVIOURS

Behaviours that increase the likelihood of adverse physical, social, and psychological consequences.

Healthy risk-taking has been viewed as a positive tool in

adolescents’ life for discovering, developing and consolidating his or her identity.

However as the frequency and intensity of risk-taking

increases , risk-taking no longer serves as a positive developmental purpose and becomes problematic.

HEALTH-RISK BEHAVIOURS IN ADOLESCENCE

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified six health-risk behaviours:

(1) behaviours that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence

(2) alcohol and other drug use

(3) tobacco use

(4) irresponsible sexual behaviour

(5) unhealthy dietary behaviour

(6) physical inactivity

Adolescent risk taking behaviour is important not simply because it may lead to illness or death but because it can severely compromise a young person's mastery of normal developmental tasks and ability to fulfil social roles.

For example, alcohol and other drug use may lead to withdrawal from school, thereby restricting future opportunities for education and employment .

Adolescents purposely seek out risky behaviours as they believe that such behaviours permit them to

take control of their own lives;

to express possible opposition to adult authority and conventional society;

to help them to deal with feelings of anxiety, frustration, inadequacy and failure;

to help gain acceptance with peers and to help demonstrate identification with a youth subculture;

to confirm their personal identity;

to affirm maturity, thus marking their transition into young adulthood.

Risk taking behaviours that include alcohol, tobacco, and drug use show a connection with truancy.

Truants are more likely to engage in risky behaviours such as drug use, alcohol use .

Halfors et al. (2002) found that truant students were seven times more likely to report marijuana use than students without truancy issues.

Moreover, early truancy has also been found to contribute to early sexual behaviour, and teen pregnancy (Halfors, Vevea, Iritani, Cho, & Khatapousch, 2002).

India has the largest population of adolescents in the world being home to 243 million individuals aged 10-19 years. The country's adolescents constituted 20 per cent of the world's 1.2 billion adolescents.

Nine out of ten among the 1.2 billion adolescents live in the developing world. "In this `youthful, human resource' lies the promise and potential of becoming a healthy, strong and egalitarian society.

The primary purpose of the research was to look within the two patterns of adolescent behaviour, ‘truancy and risk taking behaviours’ and understand its occurrence and involvement by the adolescents.

NEED OF THE STUDY

It will be beneficial to understand the underlying reasons which play an important role in the life of truants and the information obtained from this research will extend our knowledge of the phenomena of truancy. The factors will be useful in strategizing measures at school & community level to curb truancy.

This survey will uncover silent causes behind the problem and help in averting multiple adverse outcomes. This study may help explain and advance educator’s understanding of truant behaviour by bridging the gap between existing causal factors and new discoveries from this study and it will help unlock some unknown factors about school truancy and risk taking behaviours.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH To identify truants from non truants.

To study gender differences in incidence of truancy.

To study the time utilization of the truant boys and girls .

To study differences between truants and non truants on family, school, peer, and individual factors .

To study the differences in risk taking behaviours of truants and non truants.

HYPOTHESIS 1. Incidence of truancy would be higher in boys as

compared to girls.

2. Boys and girls would differ in their time utilization while playing truants from school.

3.Truants will be significantly higher than non-truants on adverse family, school, peer and individual factors.

4. Truants will be significantly higher than non-truants on Risk –Taking Behaviours.

SAMPLE For the purpose of this research, six hundred and fifty,

15 yrs to 17 yrs old learners from private and govt. schools in Chandigarh, Panchkula & Zirakpur of both genders ( equal number) were surveyed on the truancy measure.

Out of those 650, 150 truants were identified (100 boys & 50 girls) and further studied.

These 150 truants were included and matched on age, gender, school enrollment and SES with one hundred and fifty non truants .

Thus, total sample included is 300 school learners.

TRUANCY CRITERIA The Truancy Criteria that had to be answered i.e.

“during the past 30 days have you missed your school or classes without the permission from your parents or school” (GSHS, dev by WHO, c.f Siziya, Muula & Rudatsikira, 2007).

This question was to be answered in a ‘yes or no’ and if the learner responded to a ‘yes’ response, the number of days was required to be mentioned.

TIME UTILIZATION MEASURE The Time Utilization Measure was developed that

assessed the engagement of activities by the truant learners when they bunk school or classes.

The learners had to tick on a given set of activities (could be more than one) they remained engaged in while playing truant from school and could also write down (open ended question) in case their activity was not mentioned in the list, the way they spend their time when not in school.

The items were going to sit in the park with friend, go to friends home, loitering in streets, play games in park, hanging out in shopping malls, do odd jobs, baby sit younger siblings, watch movies, visit relatives, attend parties, something more important to do.

FAMILY FACTORS

The Family Factor Measure which was developed focuses on the factors related to the learner’s family

There are 10 items in this section which were to be answered in a ‘yes or no’ response.

The items included in this section are based on factors related to family which are likely to contribute to truancy and are derived from the literature study.

High scores reflect adverse family conditions. The family factors include the following aspects (domestic violence, abuse and neglect, parental alcoholism, lack of physical space in the house, lack of parental involvement, ineffective disciplinary practices, lack of family time and concern by family members, problematic familial relationships, sibling rivalry, unsupportive family).

SCHOOL FACTORS The School Factor Measure developed focuses on the

school factors related to the adolescents

There are 10 items in this section which were to be answered in a ‘yes or no’ response.

The items included in this section are based on factors related to school which are likely to contribute to truancy and are derived from the literature study.

High scores reflect adverse school related problems. The school factors included are (school safety, ineffective teaching methods, boredom, poor student -teacher relationship, opportunism, faulty school discipline, avoidance of tests and assignments, poor school performance, overcrowded classrooms, physical manhandling by teachers).

PEER FACTORS MEASURE Focuses on the factors related to the peer groups of

adolescents.

There are 8 items in this section which were to be answered in a ‘yes or no’ response.

High scores indicate peer related problems.

The peer factors included are (lack of friends, poor relationship with fellow students and friends, problem getting along with friends, feeling of loneliness, peer pressure to bunk, teasing and humiliation by friends, social isolation by unfriending and bullying).

INDIVIDUAL FACTOR MEASURE Focuses on the factors related to the self

There are 10 items in this section which were to be answered in a ‘yes or no’ response.

High scores indicate problems at the individual level. The individual factors included are (lack of motivation, lack of willingness to learn, curiosity, poor social skills, lack of confidence and low self esteem, moodiness, learning problems, academic incompetence, feeling of thrill, non-interest in school).

Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) YRBS was developed in 1999 by the Centre for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC), aimed to establish the learner’s risk taking behaviours in the area of behaviours related to Behaviours related to unintentional injuries and violence, Sexual behaviours, Tobacco use behaviours, Alcohol and other drug use behaviours. There are total 42 items in this section where the learners had to respond in a ‘yes or no’ response.

PILOT STUDY

The research instrument (Family factor, School factor, Peer Factor and Individual factor survey) was personally designed and has not been used for any other study so far, so there was a need for pre-testing to establish clarity and the appropriateness of the questionnaire items. During the pre- testing of the questionnaire, the following procedure was followed.

A pre-testing of the instrument was done on 30 school learners belonging to the age group of 15 yrs to 17 yrs (not included in the sample). The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was checked over a span of 30 days which came out to be quite satisfactory. The test-retest reliability was 0.75 for family factors, 0.78 for school factors, 0.76 for peer factors and 0.75 for individual factors. The values indicate the reliability of the instrument as satisfactory.

To determine the validity of the questionnaire instrument, the questionnaire was given to experts and their colleagues to determine content validity, where experts checked whether the items represent the construct which is being studied as well as the wording, formatting and scoring of the instrument.

Also, the truancy reported by the adolescents was validated against the teachers’ reports of the same.

To test the reliability of YRBS questionnaire ,the test-retest reliability was also carried out with N=30 over a 30 days period and it came out to be 0.81.

INCIDENCE OF TRUANCY

TOTAL SAMPLE

TRUANTS FREQUENCY

PERCENTAGE OF TRUANTS

325 boys 100 100 15.38%

325 girls 50 50 7.69%

650 150 23%

TABLE Showing the frequency and percentage of the time utilization activities by truant boys and girls.

TABLE : GROUP DIFFERENCES BASED ON VARIOUS FACTORS

MAJOR FINDINGS The total students surveyed were 650 . The total

incidence of truants emerged to be 23% out of which 15.38% were truant boys and 7.69% were truant girls.

The results revealed a significantly higher incidence of truancy among boys than girls.

The most preferred activity for boys & girls is ‘watching movies’ followed by ‘hanging around shopping malls’ for boys and ‘going to friends place’ for girls as the second most preferred activity and the third most frequented activity is ‘attending parties’ for boys for girls it is ‘hanging around in malls and markets’.

Both truant boys and truant girls have shown high significant differences than their non-truant counterparts on four domains: family factors, school factors, peer factors and individual factors.

The results also show a significantly higher involvement of truant boys in Risk Taking Behaviours such as Behaviours related to unintentional injuries and violence, sexual behaviours, tobacco use behaviours and alcohol & other drug use behaviours in comparison to non-truant boys.

The findings also indicate that risk taking behaviours are significantly higher amongst the truant girls than non- truant girls in all areas , except tobacco use behaviours, which has shown high means but no significant difference.

LIMITATIONS The research group which has been taken from few schools

constitute the sample. As a result the findings of this study may have the generalizability limitation due to its small sample size as more schools, students and grades could be added to the research.

Furthermore , the students who were absent from school at the time of data collection could not be included. The survey was completed by students on a self report basis, the honest portrayal of responses on survey items could be a matter of concern as it was a school based setting, where the presence of teachers could have potentially interfered with their responses.

THANKS