European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 4│2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.376841 THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTSi Gürbüz Ocak1, İjlal Ocak2, Emine A. Baysal3ii 1,2 Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey Fatih Anatolian High School, Afyon, Turkey 3 Abstract: The purpose of this study is to find out the causes of high school students’ absenteeism. Survey method was used. The population was comprised of 531 students in the public high schools. The data was collected with "The Scale of Absenteeism Causes" developed by the researchers. Cronbach Alpha was calculated as α= . . Findings show the causes of students' absenteeism aren't related to school, students themselves and their parent, however; student absenteeism causes partly from psychological reasons. Male students have more absenteeism than female students in terms of the causes of absenteeism sourced by school, students and psychological. Moreover; 9th, 10th and 11th grade students' absenteeism has bigger values than 12th grade students. Keywords: high school students, absenteeism, causes of absenteeism 1. Introduction Turkey’s education system is mostly based upon the assumption that students should be in class every weekday. In other words, the public education system is based on the assumption that students should regularly attend school. Compulsory education laws back up this assumption in Turkey. The assumption that except for illness or the occasional doctor’s appointment, family vacation, special event or crisis, students do in fact attend school every day is so strong, that it is generally not measured. This study has been supported by Afyon Kocatepe University Scientific Research Project Coordination Department (project code: 14.HIZ.DES.68). i Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 331 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Absenteeism is a student behaviour grounded on physical, psychological and social reasons and affecting students' development negatively. Absenteeism can be not only a symptom of students' negative feelings about school but also sourced by many different reasons (Gökyer, 2012). Absenteeism is typically based on total days of school missed, including both excused and unexcused absences (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012). The State Board of Education (2013) adopted definitions for excused and unexcused absences for use by schools and districts in order to implement the statutory policies and procedures concerning truants, and the reporting of truancy offers the three forms students’ absenteeism. In fact, students need to attend school daily to succeed. However; Ubogu (2004) says illness, financial difficulties, age, social rank, geographical region, attitudes of teachers, weak school management, high education cost and weather condition can cause absenteeism. Mervilde (1981) also reveals that; family health or financial concerns, poor school environment, drug and alcohol use, transportation problems, and differing community attitudes towards education are all conditions that can cause a child not to attend school. Literature review shows that students' absenteeism can be grouped into these sub-titles: A. The causes of absenteeism sourced from school: School climate constituted by human relationship affects students’ and teachers’ behaviours Mizelle, . Students' negative thoughts about school activities, staffs' low competence and understanding, strict school management cause rebellion (Doyle, 1986). Fleming (1995), Williams (2000) and Teasley (2004) emphasize that difficulties and lack of interest in engaging classes are the reasons of absenteeism. B. The causes of absenteeism sourced from teachers: Williams (1999), Weller (1996), Wadesango and Machingambi (2011) state teachers who are critical and have high expectations from students can cause absenteeism. Teachers' positive attitudes and behaviours affect students' dedication to school positively; however, authoritarian attitudes, lack of communication and high expectations from students can cause absenteeism (Ataman, 2001). C. The causes of absenteeism sourced from parent: Reasons such as the parenting style, breakdown of parent, divorce of parent affects students' behaviours C(celo≤lu, . Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) express family pressure affects the continuity of students to school negatively. Home environment and family support, family contribution to school provides the continuity of students (Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1993). D. The causes of absenteeism sourced from students: Galichon and Friedman (1985) express students are absent during class without an excuse because of boring lessons, taught in the course not complying with the expectations of employers, dislike of the teacher or course, taught in the course not being useful for students' future career European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 332 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS choice. Marburger (2001) takes the issue from a different point of view and says students' absenteeism is due to not being motivated to learning. E. The causes of absenteeism sourced from psychology: King and Bernstein (2001) express students' psychological mood affects their decisions about going to school. Enomoto (1997) says when students feel being ignored by their teachers, they don't continue to school. Lotz and Lee (1999) and Durden and Ellis (2003) emphasize if the students are not motivated sufficiently and they don't have self-esteem, they generally tend to be absent at school or class. 2. Problems of the Research In the light of the literature review, problem statements are defined as "What are the causes of absenteeism of high school students? Do these causes indicate a significant difference in terms of some variables?" In this context, identified sub-problems are expressed as below; 1. How is the distribution of the causes of absenteeism high school students' (according to the causes of absenteeism sourced from school; students; parent and psychology sub-dimensions)? 2. Do the causes of absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of gender, grade, mother and father's education level and grade point average variables according to the causes of absenteeism sourced from school; students; parent and psychology sub-dimensions? 3. Methodology of Research The survey model was used in this study. 550 high school students were chosen randomly. Data was obtained from 531 students consisting 324 female (%61) and 207 male (%39) students. Data was gathered with "The Scale of Absenteeism Causes" developed by researchers. The total Cronbach Alpha value was calculated as α= . . The Cronbach Alpha values of sub-dimensions were calculated as follows; "The causes of absenteeism sourced from school" was α=. from students themselves" was α=. was α=. "The causes of absenteeism sourced "The causes of absenteeism sourced from parent" "The causes of absenteeism sourced from psychology" was α=. . Frequencies, percentages, mean, t-test and one-way ANOVA tests were used in order to evaluate the data. Before deciding what kind of tests were going to be used, Kolmogrov-Smirnov test was used to decide the normality of data (Lilliefors, 1967). The results of this test showed that the data weren’t normal p<. . One of the hypotheses of using parametric tests is to provide normality. However, using parametric test is suitable for many data European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 333 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS which aren’t normal. According to central limit theorem, even if data gained from big sample group isn’t normal, the mean of them is nearly normal Glass, Peckham, Sanders, 1972; Harwell, Rubinstein, Hayes, Olds, 1992; Lix, Keselman, Keselman, 1996). There aren’t any problems in terms of normality in big sample groups >30 or 40) (Pallant, . It means that if the data isn’t normal, parametric tests can be used Elliot & Woodward, 2007). If we have a sample including hundreds of observation, the distributions of data can be ignored (Altman & Bland, 1995). Geary (1947) says that normality is a legend and data are never normal. However, the normality of the data is thought as a legend, normality graphs and tests of significance can be used (Field, 2009; Altman & Bland, 1995). So in this study, frequencies, percentage, the means of items, ttest and one-way Anova were used. 4. Results 4.1 How is the distribution of the causes of absenteeism high school students' (according to the causes of absenteeism sourced from school (1st); students (2nd); parent (3rd) and psychology (4th) sub-dimensions)? Table 1: Frequencies, Percentages and Means of the First Dimension (1=Never 2=Sometimes 3=Often 4=Usually 5=Always) Items F 1 2 3 4 5 X Result 1.77 1 1.10 1 1.39 1 1.45 1 1.82 1 1.41 1 1.64 1 1.39 1 1.39 1 % I remain absent of school 1- when courses are boring. 4- because of violence at school. 6- due to the lack of social facilities at school. 10- because of unsympathetic school management. 11- when there are courses taught by teachers I dislike. 12- due to authoritarian teachers. 13- due to intolerant teachers. 14- because teachers don't encourage me. 15- because teachers don't support me. f 271 98 78 16 18 % 56.3 20.4 16.2 3.3 3.7 f 455 15 2 4 5 % 94.6 3.1 0.4 0.8 1.0 f 386 42 26 13 14 % 80.2 8.7 5.4 2.7 2.9 f 357 69 29 12 14 % 74.2 14.3 6.0 2.5 2.9 f 288 87 44 28 34 % 59.9 18.1 9.1 5.8 7.1 f 373 55 27 14 12 % 77.5 11.4 5.6 2.9 2.5 f 324 73 39 21 24 % 67.4 15.2 8.1 4.4 5.0 f 383 48 23 10 17 % 79.6 10.0 4.8 2.1 3.5 f 381 53 22 9 16 % 79.2 11.0 4.6 1.9 3.3 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 334 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 16- because teachers don't make the lessons enjoyable. f 284 97 49 23 28 % 59.0 20.2 10.2 4.8 5.8 f 339 67 36 20 19 % 70.5 13.9 7.5 4.2 4.0 f 353 64 29 14 21 % 73.4 13.3 6.0 2.9 4.4 37- when there is a course of a teacher whom I have f 331 71 32 20 27 experienced problems. % 68.8 14.8 6.7 4.2 5.6 17- because of inconsiderate teachers. 35- when I don't want to listen to course. 1.78 1 1.57 1 1.51 1 1.62 1 Table 1 shows students don't remain absent of school because of the causes sourced from school. Because most of the students answer items in this sub-dimension in "never" interval. For instance, %94.6 of students don't agree the item which says "I remain absent of school because of violence at school". The mean of this sub-dimension is 1.52. Table 2: Frequencies, Percentages and Means of the Second Dimension Items F 1 2 3 4 5 X Result % I remain absent of school 43- because I have to work for economic f 446 14 7 3 11 reasons. % 92.7 2.9 1.5 0.6 2.3 44- because I am alone at school. f 392 43 18 8 20 % 81.5 8.9 3.7 1.7 4.2 f 420 25 18 8 10 % 87.3 5.2 3.7 1.7 2.1 49- because my friends are from out of school f 412 26 28 2 13 environment. % 85.7 5.4 5.8 0.4 2.7 51- when I don't have course materials. f 418 36 14 5 8 % 86.9 7.5 2.9 1.0 1.7 f 434 19 9 3 16 % 90.2 4.0 1.9 0.6 3.3 f 372 53 27 10 19 % 77.3 11.0 5.6 2.1 4.0 54- because I make the commute out of f 394 45 14 10 18 province. % 81.9 9.4 2.9 2.1 3.7 55- because of the crowded classrooms. f 436 19 8 4 14 % 90.6 4.0 1.7 0.8 2.9 f 441 22 5 3 10 % 91.7 4.6 1.0 0.6 2.1 48- because our house is far away from school. 52- because I don't have life safety at school. 53- before and after public holidays. 56- because of future anxiety. 60- because I don't benefit from guide service at f 427 22 8 6 18 school. % 88.8 4.6 1.7 1.2 3.7 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 1.16 1 1.38 1 1.25 1 1.29 1 1.23 1 1.22 1 1.44 1 1.36 1 1.21 1 1.16 1 1.26 1 335 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Most of the students answer the items in this sub-dimension as "never". According to this, students don't think that the causes of their absenteeism aren't related to themselves and the situations affecting them. The mean of this sub-dimension is 1.26. Table 3: Frequencies, Percentages and Means of the Third Dimension Items F 1 2 3 4 5 X Result f 471 4 2 - 4 1.04 1 % 97.9 0.8 0.4 - 0.8 f 476 1 1 1 2 1.02 1 % 99.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 f 447 15 13 1 5 1.13 1 % 92.9 3.1 2.7 0.2 1.0 f 466 6 4 1 4 1.06 1 % 96.9 1.2 0.8 0.2 0.8 1.11 1 % I remain absent of school 19- because my parent is divorced. 20- because my father/mother is disabled. 21- because I have to support my family financially. 25- because I have to take care of my sisters or brothers. 28- because of family pressure. f 455 10 9 - 7 % 94.6 2.1 1.9 - 1.5 Table 3 shows that most of the students answer to the items in this sub-dimensions as "never" interval. That is, students don't think that their absenteeism reasons aren't related to their parent. The mean of this sub-dimension is 1.07. Table 4: Frequencies, Percentages and Means of the Fourth Dimension Items F 1 2 3 4 5 X Result f 39 121 151 81 89 3.12 3 % 8.1 25.2 31.4 16.8 18.5 f 196 132 72 42 39 2.16 1 % 40.7 27.4 15.0 8.7 8.1 f 273 93 55 31 29 1.85 1 % 56.8 19.3 11.4 6.4 6.0 f 172 101 73 49 86 2.53 1 % 35.8 21.0 15.2 10.2 17.9 2.60 2 % I remain absent of school 29- when I am sick. 30- when I don't feel well psychologically. 31- when I am late to school. 34- at the first and the last week of school. 40- when one of my relatives. f 129 137 93 38 84 % 26.8 28.5 19.3 7.9 17.5 Table 4 shows most of the students answer to the items in this sub-dimension as "sometimes", "never" and "often" interval. The mean is 2.45. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 336 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 4.2.1 Do the causes of high school students' absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of gender? In table 5, there are t-test results. In the first sub-dimension, the mean of female students is 17.50 while that of male is 23.13. In the second sub-dimension, the mean of female students is 12.69 however that of male students is 15.77. In the third subdimension, the mean of female students is 5.31 while that of male students is 5.49. In the last sub-dimension, the mean of female students is 11.33 as that of male students is 13.57. In all dimensions of the scale the mean of male students is higher than that of female students. For the effect size value (eta-squared) which shows to what extend the impact of independent variable is on the dependent variable, Cohen's d has been used. If the effect size value is calculated as , it is calculated as , η2 , η2<0,06, it means there is "low level effect"; if η2<0,14, it means there is "middle level effect"; if it is calculated as , it means there is "large level effect" Cohen, . Table 5: t-test Results for Gender Sub-Dimensions Gender N X SS t P Eta-Squared (η2) The causes of absenteeism sourced from school students parent Female 324 17.50 6.97 - Male 207 23.13 11.64 6.27 Female 324 12.69 3.67 - Male 207 15.77 8.14 5.12 Female 324 5.31 1.78 - Male 207 5.49 1.74 1.18 324 11.33 4.19 - 207 13.57 5.36 5.09 psychology Female .00* 0.069 .00* 0.047 .23 .00* 0.046 Male *p<0.05 There is a significant difference in the first, second and third sub-dimensions (p<.05) while there isn't a significant difference in the fourth sub-dimension (p>.05). Male students remain absent of school more than female students in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school, students, parent and psychology sub-dimensions. Gender variable has middle , from school sub-dimension low η level effect on the causes of absenteeism sourced , η2<0,06) level effect on the causes of absenteeism sourced from students and psychology sub-dimensions. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 337 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 4.2.2 Do the causes of high school students' absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of grade? In table 6, there are one-way ANOVA results. Variances are homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from students, parent and psychology while variance isn't homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school (The first subdimension: .00[p<.05]; The second sub-dimension: .23; The third sub-dimension: .59; The fourth sub-dimension: .49 [p>.05]). When variances are homogeneous and the number of groups are high, Tukey test can be used; however, when variances are not homogeneous, Dunnett's C test can be used (Sipahi, Yurtoku & Çinko, 2008; Büyüköztürk, 2012). Therefore, in the first sub-dimension Dunnett's C test is used; as in the second, third and fourth sub-dimensions Tukey test is used. Also, for the effect size value Cohen's f is calculated. Table 6: One-way ANOVA Results for Grade Variable Sub-Dimensions Grade N SS X F p Difference EtaSquared(η2) The causes of absenteeism sourced from school students parent psychology 9 144 7.14 17.27 10 202 10.35 20.52 11 146 8.99 20.21 12 39 12.29 22.38 9 144 5.84 13.57 10 202 6.65 14.01 11 146 5.22 13.59 12 39 5.97 15.53 9 144 1.85 5.35 10 202 2.05 5.39 11 146 1.08 5.35 12 39 1.95 5.56 9 144 4.58 11.28 10 202 4.82 12.14 11 146 4.82 12.99 12 39 5.04 13.00 4.941 .00* 9-10 0.027 9-11 1.252 .29 0.161 .92 3.478 .01* 9-11 0.019 *p<0.05 There is a significant difference in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school and psychology sub-dimensions (p<.05). Tukey and Dunnett's C tests show the difference in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school sub-dimension is between 9th-10th grades and 9th-11th grades. There isn't a significant difference in the causes of absenteeism sourced from students and parent (p>.05). The effect size of grade variables European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 338 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS on the causes of absenteeism sourced from school and psychology sub-dimensions is low , η2<0,06) level. 4.2.3 Do the causes of high school students' absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of mother's education level? In table 7, there are one-way ANOVA results. Variances are homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from students, parent and psychology while variance isn't homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school (The first subdimension: .03[p<.05]; The second sub-dimension: .63; The third sub-dimension: .16; The fourth sub-dimension: .35 [p>.05]). Table 7: One-way ANOVA Results for Mother's Education Level Variable Sub-Dimensions Education N SS X F p EtaSquared(η2) Level The causes of absenteeism sourced from school students parent psychology Primary S. 284 8.56 18.76 Secondary S. 145 10.43 20.05 High S. 89 10.43 21.68 University 13 8.54 22.46 Primary S. 284 6.05 13.81 Secondary S. 145 6.42 13.77 High S. 89 5.63 14.33 University 13 2.98 13.92 Primary S. 284 2.20 5.45 Secondary S. 145 1.01 5.31 High S. 89 1.23 5.31 University 13 0.27 5.07 Primary S. 284 4.85 11.91 Secondary S. 145 4.54 12.53 High S. 89 5.16 12.40 University 13 13.69 13.69 2.685 .04* 0.194 .90 .423 .73 1.031 .37 0.015 4.2.4 Do the causes of high school students' absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of father's education level? In Table 8, one-way ANOVA results related to father's education level are shown. Variances are homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school, students and psychology sub-dimensions while variance isn't homogeneous in the causes of absenteeism sourced from parent (The third sub-dimension: .00[p<.05]; The first subdimension: .09; The second sub-dimension: .16; The fourth sub-dimension: 92 [p>.05]). European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 339 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Table 8: One-way ANOVA Results for Father's Education Level Variable Sub-Dimensions Education N SS X F p Difference The causes EtaSquared(η2) Level of absenteeism sourced from... school students parent psychology Primary S. 156 9.67 19.10 Secondary S. 164 8.75 18.46 University High S. 144 9.38 20.29 Secondary S.- University 67 10.31 22.80 University Primary S. 156 6.14 14.05 Secondary S. 164 7.50 14.01 High S. 144 3.85 13.29 University 67 5.49 14.50 Primary S. 156 1.92 5.47 Secondary S. 164 2.35 5.54 High S. 144 0.98 5.18 University 67 0.66 5.20 Primary S. 156 4.83 11.73 Secondary S. 164 4.61 11.90 High S. 144 4.88 12.45 67 4.88 13.52 University 3.776 .01* 0.758 .51 1.389 .24 2.540 .05 Primary S.- 0.021 *p<0.05 In the causes of absenteeism sourced from students, parent, psychology subdimensions, there isn't a significant difference (p>.05). However, there is a significant difference in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school sub-dimension (p<.05). Differences are between primary school-university and secondary school-university. To the effect size value, father's education level variable has low , η2<0,06) level effect on the causes of absenteeism sourced from school. 4.2.5 Do the causes of high school students' absenteeism indicate a significant difference in terms of grade point average? In Table 9, there are results about one-way variance analysis. According to Levene, the variance is homogeneous in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th factors however it is not homogeneous in 1st factor. In order to define the cause of this difference Dunnett’s C and for the effect size Cohen’s f is used. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 340 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Table 9: One-way ANOVA Results for Grade Point Average Variable Sub-Dimensions Grade Point N SS X F P DIFFERENCES EtaSquared(η2) Average The causes of absenteeism sourced from.. school students parent psychology 0-49,99 23 9.21 20.13 50-59,99 140 10.44 22.29 60-69,99 185 10.34 19.91 70-84,99 172 6.84 17.37 85-100 11 9.85 18.27 0-49,99 23 3.25 13.47 50-59,99 140 7.21 14.72 60-69,99 185 6.94 14.01 70-84,99 172 3.92 13.24 85-100 11 2.42 12.45 0-49,99 23 0.76 5.30 50-59,99 140 1.82 5.33 60-69,99 185 2.14 5.42 70-84,99 172 1.37 5.40 85-100 11 0.90 5.27 0-49,99 23 4.44 11.82 50-59,99 140 5.17 12.83 60-69,99 185 4.72 12.31 70-84,99 172 4.57 11.61 11 5.42 12.54 85-100 5.477 .00* Between 50-59,99 0.039 and 70-84,99 1.366 .24 0.073 .99 1.338 .25 *p<0.05 There is a significant difference in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school subdimension (p<.05). The source of difference is between 50-59,99 and 70-84,99 grade point averages. There aren't any significant differences in other sub-dimensions. The effect size value shows grade point average variable has low (0, η2<0,06) level effect on the causes of absenteeism sourced from school sub-dimension. 5. Discussion and Conclusions According to findings students' absenteeism isn't affected from the causes of absenteeism sourced from school. Gökyer (2012) states most of the students either agree or partly agree the items related to the causes of absenteeism sourced from school. This finding is complied with the results of this study. Wadesango and Machingambi (2011) say poor teaching strategies of teachers, boring learning environment, poor socialeconomic situations and weak student-teacher relationship bring about absenteeism. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 341 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS However, most of the students don't agree the items which are similar to those of in our study. Suhid, Aroff and Kamal (2012) express students' absenteeism are related to strict school management, crowded classrooms and harsh school rules. In this study, most of the students express their opinions as "never" interval to the items in the causes of absenteeism sourced from student sub-dimension. However, in Gökyer's (2012) study, students answer the similar items as "I agree" or "I partly agree" intervals. In Shahzada, Ghazi, Nawz and Khan's (2011) study, it can be seen that students remain absent of school because of homework. Most of the students answer the items in the causes of absenteeism sourced from as "never" intervals. The findings in Gökyer's (2012) study support the findings in this study. Shahzada and friends (2011) express that an important number of male students remain absent of school because of family pressure. Most of the students in this study answer the items in the causes of absenteeism sourced from psychology as "sometimes", "often" and "never" intervals. Shahzada and friends (2011) have reached that most of the students remain absent from school for fear that they could be punished. Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) have found that most of the students are absent at school because of illness. Komakech and Ossu (2014) express in their study, most of the students remain absent of school because of lack of materials of lessons, obligation of working somewhere, un-interest of their families, not being provided lunch at school, sexual abuse, living far away from school, illness or epidemic, death of one of the family members or relatives, peer influence and violence. These overlap with the findings in this study. Male students remain absent of school more than female students in the causes of absenteeism sourced from school, students and psychology sub-dimensions. Malcolm, Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003) say in their studies, female students in 7th, 8th and 9th grades remain absent of school more than male students in the same grades. When dealt with in terms of gender, these findings don't overlap with our study's. Findings of the study show that students in the 9th, 10th and 11th grade students remain absent of school because of school and their psychology. Moreover, there is a meaningful difference between the students whose mother are graduated from university and primary school. Furthermore, students whose father are graduated from primary school remain absent of school more than students whose father are graduated from secondary school and university. Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) reveal that chronic absenteeism is most prevalent among low-income students. Gender and ethnic background do not appear to play a role in this. The youngest and the oldest students tend to have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, with students attending most regularly in third through fifth European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4│ 2017 342 Gürbüz Ocak, İjlal Ocak, Emine A. Baysal THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS grades. Chronic absenteeism begins to rise in middle school and continues climbing through 12th grade, with seniors often having the highest rate of all. The data also suggests that chronic absenteeism is concentrated in relatively few schools, with 15 percent of schools in Florida, for example, accounting for at least half of all chronically absent students. Komakech ve Osuu (2014) have revealed in his study that 20.7% of the students absent themselves because they lack scholastic requirements or materials such as; books, pens, uniforms, calculators, and additional fees contribution like; field work fee, school bus contribution. 12.4% of the student absenteeism in Uganda schools. Students who are homeless and staying with friends, relatives are more absent from school than those staying with their biological parents for instance in rural areas; they have to wake up very early in the morning and go to the garden, fetch enough water for use, then prepare for school depending on the time the task is accomplished and sometimes are told to remain to do the construction work. Hunger at school was ranked fourth as one of the cause of students’ absenteeism. This implies that . % of the total absenteeism in a school is caused by hunger or lack of mid-day meals. Reference 1. Altman D.G. & Bland J.M. (1995). 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