Prevalence and correlates of truancy among school-going adolescents in three West African countries

Students who absent themselves from school especially without permission are at greater risks of adverse educational outcomes. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and correlates of truancy among school-going adolescents in three West African countries. The analysis included 8912 school-going adolescents aged 11–18 years who participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey between 2012 and 2017. The overall prevalence of past 30-day truancy in the three countries were 22.9%, 36.5% and 45.9% for Benin, Ghana and Liberia respectively. Boys generally reported higher prevalence of truancy than girls in the three countries. We observed that truancy among adolescents increases with age such that the older adolescents were more likely to miss school than younger ones. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, alcohol use and sexual risk behavior were found as risk factors for truancy in all three countries. We found that parental supervision and parental bonding were protective of truancy in Ghana whilst parental supervision and peer support were found to be protective of truancy for adolescents in Liberia and Benin respectively. High prevalent rate of truancy reported in this study underscore the need for these countries to call for interventions aimed at reducing truancy considering identified associated factors.