Published
2024-11-08
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the questionnaire assessing reasons for school non-attendance
Javier Martinez-Torres
Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4323-0052
Maria Perez-Marco
Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1857-9415
Andrea Fuster-Rico
Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2119-1451
Carolina Gonzalvez
Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7810-9044
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20448/jeelr.v11i4.6094
Keywords: Causes of absenteeism, Factorial invariance, School non-attendance, Validation, ARSNA, Questionnaire.
Abstract
The study aimed to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Spanish version of the Assessing Reasons for School Non-attendance (ARSNA) originally developed by Havik, Bru and Ertesvåg in 2015 to assess the reasons for school absence in adolescents. We used the back-translation method to translate and adapt the instrument without substantially altering it. A total of 1168 Spanish adolescents (M = 15.03, SD = 2.40) enrolled in 6 secondary education institutes participated in the study. The confirmatory factor analysis establishes a four-dimensional model (FI: Somatic symptoms; FII: Subjective health complaints; FIII: Unjustified absences; FIV: School refusal) with 16 items and invariant depending on gender. The results obtained provide the Spanish version of the ARSNA with good understandability, internal consistency, and reliability for measuring the causes of lack of school attendance. This research makes a new instrument available to the Spanish population that evaluates reasons for school absenteeism.