School refusal behavior is a serious problem that has significantconsequences for the personal, academic, and social adjust-ment of young people. Although school attendance problemshave been associated with physical violence, aggression orcyberbullying, there is a lack of studies that have analyzed therelationship between this problematic behavior and aggressive-ness based on the Buss – Perry Aggression model. This work hastwo main goals: first, to identify school refusal behavior profilesbased on the functional model of this variable; and, secondly, toanalyze possible differences in four major aggression dimen-sions based on the Buss – Perry aggression questionnaire(Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility)depending on the profiles identified. Participants were 1,509Spanish adolescents (60.6% male) aged 12–18 years (M = 14.81;SD = 1.85). The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were administered.Four school refusal behavior profiles (Non-School RefusalBehavior, Low School Refusal Behavior, Mixed School RefusalBehavior, and High Mixed School Refusal Behavior) were identi-fied using Latent Profile Analysis, and differential functioning ofthose profiles across the dimensions of aggression was found.The Mixed School Refusal Behavior and High Mixed SchoolRefusal Behavior groups showed the highest mean scores inthe dimensions of aggression. These findings highlight thatthe identification of different profiles and risk factors regardingschool refusal behavior may be relevant for early intervention.Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of reducingthe risk of violent and aggressive behaviors to prevent schoolattendance problems in adolescents and younger ages.
KEYWORDS: Adolescence, aggression, latent profile analysis, school refusal behavior.
Gonzálvez, C., Díaz-Herrero, A., Vicent, M., Sanmartín, R., Aparicio-Flores, M. P. & García-Fernández, J. M. (2023). Typologies of Spanish Youth with School Refusal Behavior and Their Relationship with Aggression. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2023.2234840
