Psychosocial Profiles of Tanzanian Primary School Children and Their Associations With School Refusal, Absenteeism, and Academic Performance

ABSTRACT

This study examined psychosocial profiles of Tanzanian primary school children and their associations with school refusal, absenteeism, and academic performance using a person‐centered approach. Guided primarily by Bronfenbrenner's bioecological PPCT model, and secondarily by Kearney's functional model of school refusal, school functioning was conceptualised as shaped by child vulnerabilities and proximal relational contexts. Participants were 496 pupils (58.6% female, 41.4% male; ages 9–15 years, M  = 11.97, SD = 1.28) from Grades 4–7 in 10 government primary schools. Gaussian finite mixture modeling supported a six‐profile solution based on separation anxiety, externalising and attention symptoms, and perceived parent and peer support. Multilevel analyses accounting for school‐level clustering showed no statistically significant overall profile differences in absenteeism or academic performance. However, pairwise comparisons indicated that pupils in the Anxious and Socially Unsupported profile reported significantly higher school refusal than those in the Low Psychosocial Risk profile (estimate = 0.43, p  < 0.001). Descriptively, the higher‐risk profile also showed more unexcused absenteeism ( M  = 8.42 vs. 2.14 days over 3 months) and lower academic performance ( M  = 52.34% vs. 68.92%). Findings highlight school refusal as a salient behavioral indicator of psychosocial risk in Tanzanian primary schools and support targeted identification and response strategies.