School refusal is a repeated negative attitude towards attending and/or staying in school throughout the entire school day. Among its serious consequences is the development of psychopathologies, which could be reduced by having adequate emotional regulation and being assertive. Regarding assertiveness, although it is considered one of the most recurrent interpersonal difficulties in adolescence, there is no empirical evidence on how it affects school refusal. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyze the differences between school refusal profiles and assertiveness in a sample of 847 Spanish adolescents aged 15 to 18. The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) and the Interpersonal Difficulties Evaluation Questionnaire for Adolescents (CEDIA) were used for this purpose. The mean scores between profiles with high and low scores for each SRAS-R factor were compared based on the difficulty in being assertive. Among the adolescents who scored high and low on all factors, there were statistically significant differences regarding assertiveness with moderate and small magnitudes. Possible explanations and implications for Educational Psychology are discussed.
Keywords: School refusal problems; Assertiveness; Psychopathologies; Adolescents.
Fuster-Rico, A., Pérez-Marco, M. and Antón, N. (2024). Differences between School Refusal and Assertiveness based on factors of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised. European Journal of Child Development, Education and Psychopathology, 10(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.32457/ejpad.v12i1.2402
