| This study sought to explore the relationship between attachment, perceived teacher support, and school engagement (SE) in an urban sample of ethnic minority truant and non-truant students. Perceived teacher support, cognitive school engagement, emotional school engagement, and behavioral school engagement were compared across truant and non-truant groups. For both groups, attachment and teacher support were also analyzed for their combined predictive effect on total school engagement. In addition, the indirect effect of attachment on the relationship between teacher support and total school engagement was investigated. Perceived teacher support was significantly greater for non-truant students, t(188) = -2.25, p = .026, d = .33, 95% CI [.04, .62], as was total school engagement, t(183.01) = -4.32, p < .001, d = .64, 95% CI [.34, .93], emotional school engagement, t(187) = -3.32, p = .01, d = .49, 95% CI [.20, .78] and behavioral school engagement, t(182.63) = -6.68, p < .001, d = .98, 95% CI [.68, 1.30]. Perceived teacher support was a significant predictor of total school engagement (when controlling for attachment) for both truants, beta = .33, p < .001, 95% CI [2.39, 7.90] and non-truants, beta = .25, p = .045, 95% CI [.06, 5.61]. In addition, maternal attachment was a significant predictor of total school engagement in the multiple regression model for non-truants, beta = .45, p = .001, 95% CI [.06, .23]. A significant small positive indirect effect for maternal attachment on the relationship between teacher support and total school engagement was also discovered, kappa2 = .13. Implications and suggestions for future truancy research are presented. |
