School attendance problems and youth psychopathology: structural cross-lagged regression models in three longitudinal data sets

Abstract

This study tests a model of reciprocal influences between absenteeism and youth psychopathology using 3 longitudinal datasets (Ns = 20,745, 2,311, and 671). Participants in 1st through 12th grades were interviewed annually or biannually. Measures of psychopathology include self-, parent-, and teacher-report questionnaires. Structural cross-lagged regression models were tested. In a nationally representative data set (Add Health), middle school students with relatively greater absenteeism at Study Year 1 tended toward increased depression and conduct problems in Study Year 2, over and above the effects of autoregressive associations and demographic covariates. The opposite direction of effects was found for both middle and high school students. Analyses with 2 regionally representative data sets were also partially supportive. Longitudinal links were more evident in adolescence than in childhood.

Figure 1

Autoregressive cross-lagged model of the association between absenteeism and psychopathology. Autoregressive pathways are displayed as the pathways within a construct over time (e.g., absenteeism year 1 to absenteeism year 2). Cross-lagged pathways are displayed as the pathways between constructs over time (e.g., absenteeism year 1 to psychopathology year 2). Residual correlations are illustrated by the double headed curved arrow