Impact of Trauma on Truancy

Truancy has been a rising problem in the United States for several decades. Adverse childhood experiences have also been gaining recognition as a public health concern. The problem to be addressed in this study was the effect of trauma on truancy on parents whose children had been referred to the juvenile office. This study was a quantitative study using three self-reported surveys. The surveys include the Adverse Childhood Experiences survey, posttraumatic stress survey, and a school attendance survey. The sample was 60 parents of youth who had been referred to the juvenile office during fall 2021 to spring 2022 school year. This study used multiple regression and two-way ANOVA to analyze the data. For analysis purposes, the school attendance data was broken up into three groups: school attendance same time, school attendance after, and school attendance continue. All regression models showed statistical significance. The analysis of variance showed statistical significance with adverse childhood experiences, posttraumatic stress, and school attendance issues at the same time as the traumatic event. Where applicable, a post hoc Tukey test was run. Trauma and posttraumatic stress were key factors in school attendance