The Importance of School Pedagogical and Social Climate to Students’ Unauthorized Absenteeism – a Multilevel Study of 101 Swedish Schools

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of study participants.

Table 1. Mean and quartile distribution of the school climate score (PESOC), at the cohort inception in 7th grade.

Variable	Mean	SD	Lowest (Poor)	2nd	3rd	Highest (Good)
T-PESOC (full scale)	3.19	.21	<3.05	3.05–3.17	3.17–3.34	>3.34
Subscale “Expectations for Students’ Behaviour and Academic Performance”	3.46	.20	<3.33	3.33–3.47	3.47–3.61	>3.61
Subscale “Basic Assumptions”	3.42	.16	<3.32	3.32–3.41	3.41–3.55	>3.55
Subscale “Teaching Activities”	3.22	.22	<3.07	3.07–3.26	3.26–3.40	>3.40
S-PESOC (full scale)	2.94	.17	<2.84	2.84–2.93	2.93–3.06	>3.06
Subscale “Student-rated Teacher Expectations”	3.51	.11	<3.43	3.43–3.52	3.52–3.59	>3.59
Subscale “Student-rated Teacher Support”	3.03	.16	<2.93	2.93–3.05	3.05–3.14	>3.14
Subscale “Student-rated Teaching Activities”	2.91	.15	<2.82	2.82–2.91	2.91–3.03	>3.03

Table 2. Proportions of students with unauthorized absenteeism across socio-demographic and school characteristics.

	Grade 7 N = 2770^a			Grade 8 N = 2573^a			Grade 9 N = 1805^a
	N	% absent	p-value^b	N	% absent	p-value^b	N	% absent	p-value^b
Gender
Female	1425	7.30	.563	1343	10.28	.706	943	9.65	.346
Male	1345	7.88		1230	10.73		873	11.00
Parents’ educational level
Both less than university	825	10.55	<.001	724	15.75	<.001	506	15.81	<.001
At least one with university degree	1913	6.06		1818	8.36		1286	8.01
Parents birthplace
Both born in Sweden	2117	6.09	<.001	1959	8.27	<.001	1407	8.60	<.001
At least one born outside Sweden	512	11.33		457	17.94		293	15.02
School management
Municipal	2014	8.34	.014	1846	10.24	.501	1313	11.73	.001
Independent	756	5.56		727	11.14		503	6.56

^a Because of missing information in co-variates the sub-totals may not sum up to the total sample.

^b P-values correspond to Chi-square test (with 1 df) comparing the distribution of the independent variable across categories of the corresponding predictor.

Table 3. Proportions of students with unauthorized absenteeism in relationship to school climate.

	Grade 7 N = 2770			Grade 8 N = 2573^2			Grade 9 N = 1805^2
	N	% absent	p-value^a	N	% absent	p-value^a	N	% absent	p-value^a
T-PESOC Total score
Poor	670	7.31	.011	447	10.51	<.001	246	14.23	.006
2nd	755	7.68		734	7.22		311	11.58
3rd	612	10.29		687	15.00		559	11.63
Good	733	5.46		712	9.41		689	7.26
T-PESOC Expectations
Poor	664	6.33	.407	491	8.76	.557	304	12.17	.013
2nd	664	8.54		603	10.95		321	13.71
3rd	833	8.16		817	10.53		473	10.78
Good	629	7.15		669	11.21		707	7.64
T-PESOC Basic Assumptions
Poor	738	6.50	<.001	527	11.20	.177	187	14.44	.022
2nd	689	11.32		580	10.00		335	12.24
3rd	714	8.54		736	8.70		604	7.62
Good	629	3.66		737	12.08		679	10.60
T-PESOC Teaching Activities
Poor	749	7.88	<.001	525	11.24	.092	243	10.29	.113
2nd	649	12.94		744	10.75		663	12.37
3rd	677	5.61		608	12.17		290	10.00
Good	695	4.17		703	8.11		609	8.21
S-PESOC Total score
Poor	744	9.01	<.001	482	18.67	<.001	214	17.29	<.001
2nd	695	10.07		515	8.35		317	11.04
3rd	624	5.77		936	9.62		859	10.94
Good	707	5.23		640	7.34		426	4.93
S-PESOC Teacher Expectations
Poor	721	9.57	<.001	435	10.57	<.001	256	15.63	<.001
2nd	715	9.23		736	16.30		437	17.39
3rd	561	8.73		571	7.71		505	7.72
Good	773	3.36		831	7.22		618	5.18
S-PESOC Teacher Support
Poor	735	10.48	<.001	483	12.84	<.001	265	13.21	<.001
2nd	688	10.90		686	13.85		495	12.93
3rd	652	4.91		643	9.33		461	13.02
Good	695	3.74		761	6.96		595	4.71
S-PESOC Teaching Activities
Poor	740	9.32	<.001	476	17.44	<.001	197	15.74	<.001
2nd	725	8.97		684	10.09		427	13.35
3rd	702	7.55		696	9.34		733	10.37
Good	603	3.81		717	7.39		459	5.01

^a P-values correspond to Chi-square test (with 3 df) comparing the distribution of the independent variable across categories of the corresponding predictor.

^b Totals in the table may exceed the number in column heading (minimal number with complete information) because of different missing information in the teacher and student ratings.

Table 4. Cross sectional odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of unauthorized absenteeism in grades 7–9 according to quartiles of school climate scores.

Score quartiles	Model 1 (Unadjusted)		Model 2 (Adjusted)*
	OR	CI 95%	OR	CI 95%
T-PESOC
Total score
Poor	1		1
2nd	0.59	(0.37–0.95)	0.68	(0.43–1.08)
3rd	0.64	(0.42–0.97)	0.81	(0.47–1.38)
Good	1.23	(0.77–1.96)	1.43	(0.89–2.31)
Expectations
Poor	1		1
2nd	1.26	(0.85–1.86)	1.35	(0.88–2.08)
3rd	0.74	(0.48–1.12)	0.95	(0.62–1.48)
Good	1.09	(0.68–1.75)	1.40	(0.86–2.28)
Basic Assumptions
Poor	1		1
2nd	0.79	(0.53–1.18)	0.8	(0.54–1.25)
3rd	0.59	(0.40–0.88)	0.75	(0.50–1.11)
Good	1.08	(0.67–1.74)	1.41	(0.86–2.29)
Teaching Activities
Poor	1		1
2nd	1.08	(0.73–1.59)	1.17	(0.81–1.70)
3rd	0.98	(0.60–1.60)	1.07	(0.63–1.82)
Good	0.53	(0.28–1.03)	0.62	(0.29–1.33)
S-PESOC
Total score
Poor	1		1
2nd	0.64	(0.44–0.96)	0.65	(0.41–1.02)
3rd	0.62	(0.44–0.86)	0.61	(0.43–0.85)
Good	0.55	(0.35–0.85)	0.61	(0.39–0.98)
Teacher Expectations
Poor	1		1
2nd	0.76	(0.53–1.08)	0.77	(0.53–1.11)
3rd	0.58	(0.39–0.87)	0.59	(0.40–0.89)
Good	0.55	(0.35–0.86)	0.65	(0.41–1.03)
Teacher Support
Poor	1		1
2nd	1.47	(1.02–2.13)	1.44	(1.01–2.07)
3rd	1.01	(0.69–1.48)	0.97	(0.64–1.46)
Good	0.86	(0.54–1.37)	0.89	(0.55–1.44)
Teaching Activities
Poor	1		1
2nd	0.76	(0.54–1.08)	0.74	(0.51–1.07)
3rd	0.77	(0.54–1.09)	0.76	(0.52–1.11)
Good	0.72	(0.44–1.15)	0.72	(0.43–1.21)

Note: Multi-level models with clustered data at school and individual levels.

*Adjusted for parental education, parental birthplace and school management.

Table 5. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of unauthorized absenteeism according to total scores of school climate, separately by socio-demographic characteristics of the students and by school management.

Subgroup	T-PESOC		S-PESOC
	OR	CI 95%	OR	CI 95%
Low parental education
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.52	(0.25–1.05)	0.77	(0.39–1.51)
3rd	1.31	(0.67–2.59)	1.03	(0.62–1.71)
Good climate	0.86	(0.37–1.97)	0.53	(0.25–1.13)
High parental education
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.85	(0.50–1.45)	0.61	(0.36–1.04)
3rd	0.51	(0.29–0.88)	0.44	(0.29–0.67)
Good climate	1.41	(0.80–2.48)	0.45	(0.25–0.81)
Parents born in Sweden
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.63	(0.35–1.16)	0.67	(0.42–1.06)
3rd	0.67	(0.36–1.22)	0.54	(0.36–.81)
Good climate	1.16	(0.64–2.10)	0.52	(0.31–.88)
Parents born outside of Sweden
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.81	(0.36–1.95)	0.64	(0.27–1.49)
3rd	1.17	(0.47–2.94)	0.77	(0.40–1.48)
Good climate	1.13	(0.40–3.19)	0.52	(0.23–1.19)
Independent
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.24	(0.05–1.18)	0.58	(0.20–1.72)
3rd	0.92	(0.19–4.36)	0.57	(0.22–1.52)
Good climate	0.64	(0.12–3.32)	0.49	(0.15–1.63)
Municipal
Poor climate	1		1
2nd	0.70	(0.45–1.09)	0.63	(0.42–0.94)
3rd	0.65	(0.41–1.01)	0.64	(0.45–0.90)
Good climate	2.32	(1.36–3.97)	0.62	(0.38–1.01)