Social-emotional growth as a protective factor against chronic absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism is a persistent challenge for schools that has intensified following the COVID-19 pandemic. While prior research links social-emotional competence (SEC) to student attendance, less is known about whether growth in SEC reduces the likelihood of chronic absenteeism. This study examined the association between growth in SEC and chronic absenteeism among middle school students using administrative and assessment data from 8,271 students in grades 6–8 from a large public school district. SEC was measured in the fall and spring using the DESSA–mini. Propensity score matching was employed to compare students who demonstrated meaningful SEC growth (≥ 5 T-score points) to peers with similar baseline characteristics who showed no growth, yielding a matched analytic sample of 3,726 students (1863 pairs). Students with SEC growth were significantly less likely to be chronically absent than matched peers (odds ratio = 0.523, 95% CI [0.443, 0.617], p <.001). The association was particularly pronounced among students with very low baseline SEC scores. Findings suggest that growth in SEC is associated with lower rates of chronic absenteeism and underscore the importance of SEL efforts that promote measurable skill development.