Latent subtypes of school refusal behavior and their social-ecological correlates among Chinese adolescents

From an educational social-ecological perspective, this study aimed to explore the latent subtypes, influencing factors, and intervention implications of school refusal behavior (SRB) among Chinese adolescents. A total of 432 junior high school students from Beijing were recruited using cluster random sampling. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify latent subtypes based on four functional dimensions of SRB: Avoidance of negative affectivity, escape from aversive social/evaluative situations, pursuit of attention, and pursuit of tangible reinforcement. Differences in ecological variables (family functioning, peer relationships, teacher support, and internet addiction) across subtypes and their predictive factors were further analyzed. The results showed that, (1) Adolescent SRB could be classified into three latent subtypes: High-risk (6%), moderate-risk (33%), and low-risk (61%), showing a severity gradient of "high-medium-low"; (2) analysis of ecological variables revealed that the high-risk group scored significantly higher on internet addiction and peer fear, and significantly lower on peer acceptance, family intimacy, family adaptability, and learning support; (3) logistic regression indicated that internet addiction and peer fear were common significant predictors for both high-risk and moderate-risk groups. Family adaptability played a protective role for the high-risk group, while gender (male) and ninth grade were significant predictors for the moderate-risk group. These findings reveal the heterogeneity of SRB among Chinese adolescents and its social-ecological influencing mechanisms, providing an empirical basis for developing targeted identification and intervention strategies.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Well-Being Sciences Review

• Publication date

  2025-10-31

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.54844/wsr.2025.1072
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Effects of metacognition on school attendance: Assessing variation across latent profiles of school refusal behavior

  2025cited by this paper
• Gender differences in Chinese Adolescents’ school refusal: A network analysis to test the contribution of individual, family, and school factors

  2024cited by this paper
• Modifiable Parent Factors Associated with Child and Adolescent School Refusal: A Systematic Review

  2022cited by this paper
• How to Understand School Refusal

  2021influential reference
• School refusal and isolation: The perspectives of five adolescent school refusers in London, UK

  2021cited by this paper
• Multifamily Therapy for Adolescents With School Refusal: Perspectives of the Adolescents and Their Parents

  2021cited by this paper
• Ecological systems theory

  2020cited by this paper
• Emotional disorder and absence from school: findings from the 2004 British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey

  2019cited by this paper
• Differentiation Between School Attendance Problems: Why and How?

  2019cited by this paper
• Emerging School Refusal: A School-Based Framework for Identifying Early Signs and Risk Factors

  2019cited by this paper
• Functional profiles of school refusal behavior and their relationship with depression, anxiety, and stress.

  2018influential reference
• PATTERN OF SCHOOL REFUSAL BEHAVIOR ON STUDENTS; BACKGROUND, TRIGGERS, FAMILY PROFILE AND TREATMENT

  2018cited by this paper
• Handbook of Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders

  2017cited by this paper
• Current status of research on school refusal

  2015cited by this paper
• School factors associated with school refusal- and truancy-related reasons for school non-attendance

  2015cited by this paper
• Parental perspectives of the role of school factors in school refusal

  2014cited by this paper
• Panic disorder and school refusal.

  2012cited by this paper
• A Case-Control Study of Emotion Regulation and School Refusal in Children and Adolescents

  2010cited by this paper
• School absenteeism and school refusal behavior in youth: a contemporary review.

  2008cited by this paper
• Treatment Attendance among Homeless Youth: The Impact of Childhood Abuse and Prior Suicide Attempts

  2008cited by this paper
• Present, Engaged, and Accounted for: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades. Executive Summary. Report.

  2008cited by this paper
• Well-Being

  2005cited by this paper
• Functional Outcome of Adolescents with ‘School Refusal’

  2004cited by this paper
• School refusal and psychiatric disorders: a community study.

  2003cited by this paper
• Identifying the Function of School Refusal Behavior: A Revision of the School Refusal Assessment Scale

  2002cited by this paper
• School Refusal Behavior in Youth: A Functional Approach to Assessment and Treatment

  2001cited by this paper
• Functional School Refusal Subtypes: Anxiety, Avoidance, and Malingering.

  2000cited by this paper
• Family dimensions in anxious-depressed school refusers.

  1999cited by this paper
• Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder

  1998cited by this paper
• School refusal and truancy

  1997cited by this paper
• School phobia with separation anxiety disorder: a comparative 20- to 29-year follow-up study of 35 school refusers.

  1997cited by this paper
• School refusal: Family constellation and family functioning

  1996cited by this paper
• A Preliminary Analysis of a Functional Model of Assessment and Treatment for School Refusal Behavior

  1990cited by this paper
• The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design: by Urie Bronfenbrenner Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979, 330 + p.

  1980cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.