Citation

van den Toren SJ, van Grieken A, Mulder WC, Vanneste YT, Lugtenberg M, de Kroon M, Tan SS, Raat H. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(18): e16183321.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. h.raat@erasmusmc.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16183321

PMID

31505862

Abstract

This study examines the association between school absenteeism, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and happiness among young adults aged 16-26 years attending vocational education. Cross-sectional data from a survey among 676 young adults were analyzed. School absenteeism was measured by the self-reported number of sick days in the past eight weeks and hours of truancy in the past four weeks. HRQOL was measured by the 12-item Short Form Health Survey; physical and mental component summary scores were calculated. General happiness was assessed on a scale of 0-10, higher scores indicating greater happiness. Linear regression analyses were performed. The study population had a mean age of 18.5 years (SD 2.2); 26.1% were boys. Young adults with ≥5 sick days or ≥6 h of truancy reported lower mental HRQOL compared to young adults without sickness absence or truancy (p < 0.05). Young adults with 1-4 and ≥5 sick days reported lower physical HRQOL compared to young adults who had not reported to be sick (p < 0.05). Young adults with 1-5 h and ≥6 h of truancy reported higher physical HRQOL compared to young adults who were not truant (p < 0.05). No associations were observed between school absence and happiness. Lower self-reported mental HRQOL was observed among young adults with more school absenteeism due to sickness or truancy. Sickness absence was additionally associated with lower physical HRQOL.

Language: en

Keywords

happiness; health-related quality of life; school absence; sickness absence; truancy; vocational education; young adults