Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the opposing effects of stressor and social support on non-attendance tendency in junior high school. We conducted a survey of 444 college and vocational school students about stressors and social support they had in junior high school. The students were classified into four groups, with such characteristics of nonattendance tendency as: (A) actual absence from school, (B) tendency to cut classes, (C) disliking school, or (D) none of these. Major findings showed that the first three groups reported having suffered from severer stress, and felt that they got less social support than the last group. A causal model was proposed for junior high school nonattendance, which indicated that on the tendency: (1) Stress related to peers and teachers had direct effects. (2) Stress related to parents and study had indirect ones. And (3) social support had an indirect buffering effect.
