Prevalencia del absentismo escolar en la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria: Relaciones con variables sociodemográficas y familiares

Truancy is a serious concern that affects most schools in Madrid. However, we do not have accurate estimates of the prevalence of truancy due to inconsistent tracking and reporting practices in schools. In this article, the first objective is to present the prevalence of recent self-reported truancy (within the past 2 weeks) among compulsory secondary education students in the region of Madrid. The second objective is to explore associations between truant behaviour and demographic, academic, and family characteristics. Participants were 7169 students from 83 schools. They were sampled by two-stage stratified cluster design. Results show that 15.3% of students reported recent truancy and 24.1% reported selective truancy. Truancy is higher in the upper years. School disengagement related variables (e.g., retention, low educational aspirations, low interest in schoolwork) and family variables (e.g., parental education, immigration, family composition, and family implication and supervision) were among the most salient predictors of truancy.