Abstract
Recently, over 100,000 junior high school students in Japan refuse to attend school. The decrease in attendance is assumed to be a sign of maladjusted behaviors and is conceived to be a serious social problem. It is important to clarify characteristics of the student's personality in order to improve their school attendance rates. We carried out the tree drawing test for 37 junior high school students (20 males and 17 females) to examine the relationship between their classroom attendance and personality characteristics. In addition, we carried out the two paper questionnaires, Satisfaction with School Life Scale and Motivation with School Life Scale. The result of having analyzed the questionnaire showed that the lack of attendance at school was connected with the lowness of a feeling that they belong to the class, and the lowness of motivation to take a proper course of study. According to the tree drawing test, children who have poor attendance rates drew trees with a weak brushstroke. Furthermore, these same children drew a tree top with a notched shape in it. The features of these tree drawing tests reveal that they might have feeling of depression, maladjustment, a conservative tendency and oversensitivity. The results of this research suggests that improvemens in the depressive or maladjusted mode might improve students' overall school attendance. In conclusion, this study clarifies that there exists a relationship between junior high school students attendance rates and certain features of the tree drawing test.
