Date
11-13-2025
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Richard Jensen
Keywords
chronic absenteeism, peer relationship problems, emotional symptoms, student's sense of belonging, mental well-being
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Woodall, Crystal D., "Mental Well-being, Belonging, and Chronic Absenteeism: A Correlational Study" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7653.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7653
Abstract
Chronic absenteeism (CA) is an overwhelming issue facing schools in the United States. A lack of a student’s sense of belonging or signs of emotional symptoms are often red flags that can forecast future absenteeism problems with students. CA has been found to have a positive correlation with a student’s sense of belonging and emotional symptoms. Some CA interventions are geared toward increasing a student’s sense of belonging at school and or improvements in overall mental well-being. The purpose of this predictive correlational study was to examine the relationship between students’ self-reported levels of peer relationship problems and emotional symptoms, utilizing the Student Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), with the number of student absences. There were 110 5th and 6th-grade students in a public or charter school in Hawaii who participated in the study. Results of a multiple regression analysis were used to see if there is a significant predictive relationship between the combination of student-peer relationship problems and emotional symptoms on the number of days students are absent. This study found no significant relationship between the predictor variables (emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems) and the criterion variable (days absent) with a small effect size where R = .113. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis, indicating there is a lack of evidence that there is a predictive relationship between the predictor and criterion variables. There are three distinct recommendations for future research to include: a similar, but more longitudinal or longer study window, utilizing participants’ historical mental health screener and absenteeism data, or administration of a different and more thorough instrument, potentially with an audio accommodation for participants.
