The Relationship between Stress and School Absenteeism
Summary
Research has shown that stress is related to higher rates of absenteeism among adolescents.
The present study investigated to what extent the relationship between stress and school
absenteeism is affected by social support and two types of perfectionism, adaptive
perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism, among adolescents in the Netherlands. Data of
the cross-sectional quantitative ‘Peilstation 2019’ survey research were used. The sample
consisted of secondary education students (N = 5527, 48.9% female) between 10 and 16 years
old. The results of a linear regression analysis with absenteeism as dependent variable showed
that independent variable stress was related to higher rates of absenteeism. However,
independent variables adaptive perfectionism, maladaptive perfectionism and social support
did not have a notable interaction with the relationship between stress and absenteeism.
Regardless, social support and perfectionism were related to stress and school absenteeism.
Both types of perfectionism were related to more stress, whereas social support was related to
less stress. Adaptive perfectionism was also related to increased school absenteeism, whereas
social support was related to less absenteeism. Future research should study the dimensions of
perfectionism and how those relate to stress, school absenteeism and social support.