School anxiety and presenteeism in refugee children in Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the first aim is to compare school anxiety and presenteeism levels in refugee and native Turkish children. A total of 200 elementary and middle school students who are enrolled in the Turkish public school were selected as the study group via a purposive sampling technique in different countries in Turkey. Not only refugee children were selected but also native children were included in the study. Their teachers filled in the School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Form and the School Presenteeism Scale-Teacher Form on the behalf of refugee and native children. Independent samples t-test, Pearson product-moments correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were performed for data analysis. In conclusion, statistically significant positive correlations between school anxiety and school presenteeism have been determined in all participants. In comparison analysis, refugee children have more presenteeism and school anxiety levels than native Turkish children.

Keywords: Refugee, school anxiety, presenteeism.