PEDIATRICS Vol. 78 No. 2 August 1986, pp. 313-322
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Weitzman, M.
Right arrow Articles by Rose, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Weitzman, M.
Right arrow Articles by Rose, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

High-Risk Youth and Health: The Case of Excessive School Absence

Michael Weitzman MD1, Joel J. Alpert MD1, Lorraine V. Klerman DrPH1, Herbert Kayne PhD1, George A. Lamb MD1, Karen Roth Geromini 1, Karen T. Kane MEd1, and Lynda Rose 1

1 From the Departments of Pediatrics and The School of Public Health, Boston University School of Medicine, and The Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University, Boston

Excessive school absence is a major educational and social problem in the United States, yet very little is known about its etiology or how to prevent or ameliorate it. This paper reports results from a series of related studies conducted in seven Boston middle schools (grades 6, 7, and 8) to test the hypotheses that (1) health problems and unmet health needs are major characteristics distinguishing excessively absent students from regular attenders and (2) that a health-oriented approach using medically mediated interventions is effective in reducing absences among excessively absent students. There were no significant differences between regular attenders and excessively absent students on multiple measures of student and family health status, health habits, and health service utilization patterns in a casecontrol study. The intervention program was not associated with a significant decrease in absence school-wide or for participating students. We conclude that demographic and educational characteristics of students exert a greater effect on their behavior in regard to absence from school than do health status or receipt of health services and that a health-oriented approach, such as the one used here, will not have a major impact on what remains one of the most profound educational and social problems involving children in the United States today.

Key Words: high-risk adolescent • excessive school absence

Submitted on June 21, 1985
Accepted on December 4, 1985


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch Pediatr Adolesc MedHome page
R. L. Williams and W. T. Boyce
Health Status of Children in Self-care
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, January 1, 1989; 143(1): 112 - 115.
[Abstract] [PDF]