Features of truancy

• commonest in last year of compulsory education
• usually boys who conceal their whereabouts from their parents when not at school
• often from large families with inconsistent discipline, effectively absent fathers and a history of antisocial behaviour in other family members
• poor academic records
• association with conduct disorder and delinquency but rarely emotional disorder
• parents may collude in the non-attendance because they do not value education and/or have been truants themselves (little family expectation of attendance).
• factors within the school may discourage attendance

Truancy is not likely to respond to psychiatric intervention. Persistent truancy in a young child who goes off alone is a more serious problem and may reflect anger and resentment towards home.