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The relationship between school refusal behavior (SRB) profiles and personality traits has received little attention from investigators. Identifying the profiles of students with school attendance problems may improve the understanding of the characteristics defining these students. The aim of this study was to identify different SRB profiles and analyze the relationship between these profiles, and optimism/pessimism and personality traits. The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised, the Youth Life Orientation Test, and the Big Five Questionnaire were administrated to 739 Spanish students aged 8-11 (M[subscript age] = 9.92; SD = 1.12). Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed a significant association between personality dimensions and SRB. Three distinct profiles were identified: (1) SRB by negative reinforcement (high scores on avoiding school-related stimuli provoking negative affectivity), (2) SRB by positive reinforcement (high scores on pursuing positive tangible reinforcement outside of school), and (3) Low SRB. The SRB profile by positive reinforcement scored higher on Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Optimism, whereas the SRB profile by negative reinforcement scored higher on Neuroticism and Pessimism. More statically significant differences were found between the negative and positive reinforcement profiles. The role of negative personality traits and pessimism as risk factors for students who are truant or refuse to attend school are discussed.

School attendance problems are a serious issue for educators, psychologists and physicians. Nonattendance is a key risk factor for academic failure, violence, psychiatric disorders or economic deprivation. This study aimed to identify different school refusal behavior profiles and to determine whether these profiles differ from each other based on several psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism). The participants were 1894 Spanish adolescents (53% boys) aged 15-18 years (M = 16.84, SD = 1.03). The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45) were administered. Latent class analysis revealed four school refusal behavior profiles: Non-School Refusal Behavior, High School Refusal Behavior, Moderately Low School Refusal Behavior and Moderately High School Refusal Behavior. The results indicated that the High School Refusal Behavior and Moderately High School Refusal Behavior groups were the most maladaptive profiles and revealed the highest mean scores on the psychopathological symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of promoting good mental health to prevent school refusal behaviors., Author(s): Carolina Gonzálvez [sup.1] , Ángela Díaz-Herrero [sup.2] , María Vicent [sup.1] , Ricardo Sanmartín [sup.1] , Antonio M. Pérez-Sánchez [sup.1] , José M. García-Fernández [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5268.9, [...]

Anxiety is a common mental health factor associated with school refusal behaviour. This study aims to identify different school refusal behaviour profiles and to determine whether or not these profiles differ from each other based on three anxiety dimensions (Anticipatory Anxiety, School-based performance anxiety and Generalized Anxiety). Participants were Spanish children (N = 1113; 52.3% male) aged 8-11 years (M = 9.53; SD = 1.10). The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised (VAA-R) were administered. Cluster analysis revealed four school refusal behaviour profiles: Non-School refusal, School Refusal by Positive Reinforcement, School Refusal by Negative Reinforcement, and School Refusal by Mixed Reinforcement. The Mixed Reinforcement group was the most maladaptive profile since it obtained the highest mean scores on the three dimensions and the total score of the VAA-R. In contrast, Non-School Refusal and Positive Reinforcement groups revealed the lowest scores in all of the anxiety dimensions. Our findings underscore the idea certain school refusal behaviour profiles have a higher risk of presenting anxious symptoms. In these cases, the control of anxiety may be an important goal of preventive interventions.

School attendance problems imply a serious threat to a child's academic, social and emotional development. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) in Ecuadorian adolescents. Participants were 1786 students (51% boys) aged 15 to 18 years (M = 16.31; SD = 1.01) randomly selected from 12 high schools located in different geographic zones of Quito (Ecuador). The measures used were the SRAS-R, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 and the School Anxiety Inventory. Results supported the four-factor structure (I. Avoidance of Negative Affectivity, II. Escape from Social and/or Evaluative situations, III. Pursuit of Attention and IV. Pursuit of Tangible Reinforcement). This model remained invariant across gender and age and adequate levels of internal consistency were obtained for the factors (.77, .81, .75 and .71). Girls reported higher levels of Escaping from Social Evaluation than boys, and boys reported higher levels of Pursuing Tangible Reinforcements than girls. The oldest students (17-18 years) scored higher on Avoiding Negative Affectivity and Escape from Social or Evaluation situations than the younger students. Discriminant validity was examined and significant correlations with other measures were found. These findings provide initial support for the use of the SRAS-R as a measure to assess school refusal in Ecuadorian adolescents., Author(s): Carolina Gonzálvez [sup.1], Cándido J. Inglés [sup.2], Ricardo Sanmartín [sup.1], María Vicent [sup.1], Carlos M. Calderón [sup.3], José M. García-Fernández [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5268.9, 0000 0001 2168 1800, [...]

The School Refusal Assessment Scale--Revised (SRAS-R) is a self-report measure designed to assess four functional factors of school refusal behavior: avoidance of stimuli that provoke negative affectivity (Factor I), escape from aversive social and/or evaluative situations (Factor II), pursuit of attention from significant others (Factor III), and pursuit of tangible reinforcement outside of school (Factor IV). The aim was to analyze the scale's factorial invariance and latent means differences across gender and age in a sample of 2,678 Chilean adolescents aged 13 to 17 years (M = 15.23; SD = 1.26). The hypothesized model revealed the best-fit model and remained invariant across gender and age. Good internal consistency was obtained for the four factors (0.75, 0.72, 0.77, and 0.71). Latent means differences were found across gender and age.

The objectives of this study were twofold. Firstly, it attempted to validate the scores of the Youth Life Orientation Test in Spanish children. Secondly, it had the objective of estimating the mean differences in scores and predictive capability of optimism and pessimism for school refusal. The sample consisted of Spanish students between the ages of 8 and 11 selected by random cluster sampling: 989 for the first study (M = 9.72; SD = 1.09) and 1078 for the second study (M = 9.63; SD = 1.12). Data were collected using the Youth Life Orientation Test (YLOT) and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised. The first study replicated the two-factor model of the YLOT with 12 items and remained invariant across gender and age with adequate levels of internal consistency (a = 0.79 optimism, a = 0.77 pessimism). No significant differences were found based on gender; however, younger students were found to be significantly more optimistic than older ones. As for the second study, pessimism acted as a positive and significant predictor of high scores in school refusal, except for those students who justify their school refusal by pursuing tangible reinforcements outside of the school who obtained opposite results. These findings provide further evidence for the validity of the YLOT. In addition, the relationship between optimism, pessimism and school refusal is discussed.

The aim of this research is twofold: to analyze the mean differences scores in mathematic self-attributions based on school refusal and to verify its predictive capability on high scores in school refusal. The Sydney Attribution Scale and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised were administered to 1078 Spanish students (50.8% boys) aged between 8 and 11 years (M = 9.63; SD = 1.12). School refusers based on negative affect or anxiety attributed their failures more to the lack of capacity and effort, whereas students searching for tangible reinforcements outside of the school were more likely to attribute their successes to capacity. In turn, academic attributions acted as both positive and negative predictors of high-school refusal. Results are discussed considering more adaptive attributional styles.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between sociometric types, behavioral categories and self-attributions for academic failure ("Ability", "Effort" or "External Causes") in "Reading", "Mathematics" and "General". Method: The total sample was composed of 1349 Spanish adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 years. Sociometric student identification was obtained using the "Socio" program, and the "Sydney Attribution Scale" (SAS; Marsh, 1984) was administered analyzing academic self-attributions. Results: Results show that students with negative peer nominations obtained significantly higher scores in attributing failure to "Ability" and "Effort" in "Reading", "Mathematics" and "General" than students nominated positively by their peers. Discussion and conclusions: Sociometric types were a significant predictor of self-attributions for academic failure, given that students who received negative peer nominations were more likely to attribute academic failure to internal causes like "Ability" and "Effort" than were those with positive nominations.

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship among emotional intelligence (EI) and learning strategies, identifying different emotional intelligence profiles and determining possible statistically significant differences in learning strategies through the identified profiles. Thousand and seventy-one Spaniards secondary school students aged 14-17 participated in the study, completing the "Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24" ("TMMS-24") and the "Cuestionario de Estrategias de Aprendizaje" ["Learning Strategies Questionnaire"] (LSQ). Cluster analysis identified four differentiated EI profiles: a group of adolescents with a low EI profile, a group with high scores in attention and low scores in repair, a high EI profile group, and a group of adolescents with predominance of low attention and high repair. The results also revealed statistically significant differences among the profiles in most of the learning strategies, in which students with high general EI and those with predominance of low attention and high repair use more learning strategies than the other groups, suggesting the importance of developing programmes of emotional skills to study in greater depth EI and its influence on students' learning strategies.

Anxiety and school fears are relatively frequent in childhood. Psychology and education professionals need to have assessment instruments for screening for school anxiety in schools. This study aimed to develop, adapt, and examine the reliability and validity evidence of the School Anxiety Inventory for Primary Education (SAI‐PE) scores. Using random cluster sampling, a sample of 843 Spanish students (51.7% girls), ages ranging from 8 to 12 years (M = 10.03, SD = 1.25), was selected from public and concerted schools. The content validity of the SAI‐PE scores was analyzed through experts' judgment and students' assessment of their comprehension of the instrument's items. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses support the validity of the SAI‐PE scores. The results revealed a multifactorial structure for the scores of anxiety reactions (cognitive, psychophysiological, and behavioral) and school situations scores (school punishment, victimization, social, and academic evaluation). The study conclusions reinforce the importance of having instruments that assess the complexity of emotional responses such as school anxiety, favoring its early detection and evaluating the effectiveness of preventive and/or therapeutic programs in schools. Practitioner points: School Anxiety Inventory for Primary Education presented a multidimensional structure comprising four correlated situational factors: School Punishment Anxiety, Victimization Anxiety, Social Evaluation Anxiety, and School Evaluation Anxiety.School Anxiety Inventory for Primary Education allows the evaluation of the anxiety triple response system (cognitive, behavioral, and psychophysiological).School Anxiety Inventory for Primary Education is a valid, reliable and simple self‐report which allows the complete evaluation of school anxiety in Spanish childhood population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, one of the lines of research of great interest in the field of emotional intelligence (EI) has been the analysis of the role of emotions in the educational context and, in particular, their influence on learning strategies. The aims of this study are to identify the existence of different EI profiles and to determine possible statistically significant differences in learning strategies between the obtained profiles. The study involved 1253 Chilean school students from 14 to 18 years (M?=?15.10, SD?=?1.30), who completed the "Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24" ("TMMS-24") and the "Inventory of Learning and Study Strategies-High School version" ('LASSI-HS"). Cluster analysis identified four EI profiles: a group of adolescents with a high EI profile, a group with predominance of low emotional attention and high repair skills, a group with high scores on attention and low scores on clarity and repair, and a final group of adolescents with low EI. Also, students in groups with high overall scores in EI and low attention and high repair emotional obtained higher scores on the different learning strategies; however, the effect size analysis showed that these differences had no empirical relevance.