Alanko K, Melander K, Ranta K, Engblom J, Kosola S
Faculty of Humanities, Psychology and Theology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Tampere University Hospital, and University of Tampere, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2025 Jun;56(3):640-647. doi: 10.1007/s10578-023-01601-1. Epub 2023 Aug 26.
Education is a central determinant of adolescent health. School absences and bullying involvement jeopardize wellbeing, mental health, and educational attainment. We analyzed time trends in school absenteeism over two decades and examined the association of absenteeism with bullying involvement.We analyzed data from the nationwide School Health Promotion study, with self-reported data from Finnish middle school students in grades 8 and 9 (ages 14-17, N = 1 000 970). Questionnaires assessed frequency of illness absences (IA), truancy, frequency of bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, and involvement in both bullying perpetration and victimization. Frequent school absences were defined as occurring on more than 3 days during the prior month (2000-2015), or at least weekly (2017-2019).Frequent IA increased from 12% to 2000 to 22% in 2015. In 2017-2019, frequent IA was reported by 3.5%. Frequent truancy declined from 9% to 2000 to 4% in 2015, and remained at 4% during 2017-2019. Bully victimization was reported at least weekly by 6.9%, perpetration by 5.4% and victimization-perpetration by 1.9% of participants in total. In a logistic regression model, every type of bullying involvement increased odds for both IA and truancy.Since bullying involvement was associated with both IA and truancy, particular concern should be raised for adolescents involved in bullying, and for their social and educational functioning. The concurrent increase in IA and decrease in truancy may reflect destigmatization of mental health problems or other changes in reporting absenteeism.
教育是青少年健康的核心决定因素。缺课和卷入欺凌行为会危及幸福感、心理健康和学业成绩。我们分析了二十多年来学校缺勤情况的时间趋势，并研究了缺勤与卷入欺凌行为之间的关联。我们分析了全国学校健康促进研究的数据，这些数据来自芬兰8年级和9年级（14 - 17岁）的中学生的自我报告，样本量为1000970人。问卷评估了因病缺勤（IA）的频率、逃学情况、受欺凌频率、欺凌行为实施情况以及同时涉及欺凌行为实施和受欺凌的情况。频繁缺课被定义为在前一个月（2000 - 2015年）超过3天缺课，或在2017 - 2019年至少每周缺课。频繁因病缺勤从2000年的12%增加到2015年的22%。在2017 - 2019年，3.5%的学生报告频繁因病缺勤。频繁逃学从2000年的9%下降到2015年的4%，并在2017 - 2019年保持在4%。总体而言，6.9%的参与者报告至少每周遭受一次欺凌，5.4%实施过欺凌行为，1.9%既遭受过欺凌又实施过欺凌行为。在逻辑回归模型中，每种欺凌行为的卷入都会增加因病缺勤和逃学的几率。由于卷入欺凌行为与因病缺勤和逃学都有关联，对于卷入欺凌行为的青少年及其社会和教育功能应给予特别关注。因病缺勤的增加和逃学的减少可能反映了心理健康问题污名化的减轻或缺勤报告方面的其他变化。
