School absenteeism has surprising consequences for adults
Even missing school from kindergarten to eighth grade matters

Date:
July 1, 2020
Source:
Ohio State University
Summary:
Kids who miss a lot of school from kindergarten to eighth
grade may suffer unexpected costs as young adults, a new study
finds. Researchers found that those who were more regularly absent
in these early years of school were less likely to vote, reported
having greater economic difficulties and had poorer educational
outcomes when they were 22 to 23 years old.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Kids who miss a lot of school from kindergarten to eighth grade may
suffer unexpected costs as young adults, a new study finds.


========================================================================== Researchers found that those who were more regularly absent in these
early years of school were less likely to vote, reported having greater economic difficulties and had poorer educational outcomes when they were
22 to 23 years old.

The results suggest early school absenteeism should be taken more
seriously, said Arya Ansari, lead author of the study and assistant
professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University.

"There's this misconception, especially among parents, that it doesn't
matter as much if kids miss school early on -- that it only becomes
important when they get to middle or high school," said Ansari, who
is also a researcher at Ohio State's Crane Center for Early Childhood
Research and Policy.

"This study shows that those early absences do matter, and in ways that
many people don't consider." The study was published online recently
in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.



========================================================================== Ansari and his colleagues used data from the Study of Early Child Care
and Youth Development, which is run by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development.

This study included data on 648 students from 10 cities across the United States who were followed from birth through young adulthood. Researchers
had information on the number of days the children were absent from
school between kindergarten and eighth grade.

In 2013 and 2014, when the participants were 22 or 23 years old, they
reported on a variety of outcomes, from criminal or deviant behavior to parenthood, political participation and economic hardship.

Results showed that school absenteeism didn't have any relation with
criminal, risky or deviant behavior, Ansari said. But it was linked to political engagement and educational and economic success.

Students who were more frequently absent from school were 4.7 percentage
points less likely to have voted in the 2012 election.



==========================================================================
They also reported experiencing greater economic hardship (such as
difficulty paying bills), were more likely to say they used government assistance such as food stamps, were less likely to have a job and
reported poorer educational outcomes, such as a lower high school GPA
and a lower likelihood of going to college.

"Absenteeism in those early years of school has pretty far-reaching consequences," Ansari said. "It goes beyond just affecting your education
and how well you do in high school." Ansari said showing up less to
school in those early years may set dangerous precedents.

"If you start out being disengaged with school, you may end up being
less engaged with society more broadly. You're less likely to vote,
less likely to go to college, less likely to be employed," he said.

"We believe disengagement may be one of the key mechanisms linking early
school absences to poorer outcomes in early adulthood." Ansari said the participants in this study were mostly from middle-class families, so
results may be different for those from a more disadvantaged background.

"If we're seeing these negative outcomes of absenteeism in this largely
middle- class sample, the associations may be even more pronounced among disadvantaged families," he said.

In 2020, parents may be wondering how widespread school closings during
the pandemic may be affecting their children. Ansari said this situation
is different from what they studied here.

"These really are unprecedented times. All kids are absent. With that
said, the differential access to supports and resources will likely
result in even greater variability in outcomes when students return to
school after the pandemic." Ansari said he hopes this study will make
parents more aware of the importance of school attendance, even for
young children.

"What this work suggests is that we should take absenteeism and its consequences more seriously."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ohio_State_University. Original
written by Jeff Grabmeier. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Arya Ansari, Tara L. Hofkens, Robert C. Pianta. Absenteeism in
the First
Decade of Education Forecasts Civic Engagement and Educational
and Socioeconomic Prospects in Young Adulthood. Journal of Youth
and Adolescence, 2020; DOI: 10.1007/s10964-020-01272-4 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200701084757.htm

--- up 23 weeks, 1 day, 2 hours, 40 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)