School Refusal vs. Truancy: What Is the Difference?

School refusal is absence driven by emotional distress: the child is upset at the prospect of school, stays home, and the parents know where the child is. Truancy is absence without that distress, usually hidden from parents. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) adds that "the two call for different kinds of help."

A school attendance system does not draw that line. In Colorado an absence is recorded as excused or unexcused, and "habitually truant" is a legal threshold based on a count of unexcused absences. A child who is too anxious to walk into the building can end up with the same label as a child who is skipping.

How clinicians tell them apart

A commonly used research definition of school refusal, summarized in a 2018 systematic review by Maynard and colleagues, has five parts. The child is reluctant or refuses to attend. The child stays home with the parents' knowledge. The child shows emotional distress at the prospect of going, such as physical complaints, anxiety or unhappiness. There is no severe antisocial behavior. And the parents have tried to get the child to school.

According to that review, three of those points separate school refusal from truancy: staying home with parents' knowledge, emotional distress, and the absence of severe antisocial behavior. American Family Physician draws the same contrast, and AACAP describes truancy as a child who "skips school on purpose without a parent knowing and often without feeling upset about it."

Neither term is a diagnosis. AACAP calls not wanting to go to school "a pattern that can have several different causes, most often anxiety." See what school refusal is for the full definition.

The four types of attendance problem

Researchers use a wider map than these two words. A 2019 paper by Heyne, Gren-Landell, Melvin and Gentle-Genitty describes four types of school attendance problem.

• School refusal: the child is distressed about attending and stays home with the parents' knowledge, while the parents try to get the child to school.
• Truancy: the child is absent without that distress and typically hides it from parents.
• School withdrawal: the absence is parent-motivated. The International OCD Foundation describes it as "when a parent holds a child back from school."
• School exclusion: a fourth type the authors added to the first three.

The types have different drivers, so the response may need to differ. If you are making a real effort every morning and your child is still not going, that effort is one of the features that separates school refusal from school withdrawal.

Why the line blurs in real life

Real children do not sort neatly into categories. A community study of 9 to 16 year olds (Egger, Costello and Angold, 2003) concluded that anxious school refusal and truancy are "distinct but not mutually exclusive."

Researchers have not settled the definitions either. Psychologist Christopher Kearney uses a broader term, school refusal behavior, for any "child-motivated refusal to attend school" or difficulty staying for the whole day. It covers skipped classes and chronic lateness, and it includes absence in pursuit of rewards outside school, which overlaps with what others call truancy. A 2019 practitioner review described "continuing conceptual uncertainty" about whether school refusal should include truancy at all.

So whether an absence is hidden tells you something, but not everything. The more useful question is what the absence is doing for your child, which our guide on why kids refuse school walks through.

Why school attendance systems do not make the distinction

Schools record absences in two columns. Under Colorado's attendance rules (1 CCR 301-78), an excused absence is one for a reason identified in the local school board's attendance policy, schools "may require appropriate documentation to verify excused absences," and an absence without a valid or verified reason is treated as unexcused.

Colorado law then defines a child who is "habitually truant" as one of compulsory school age "who has four unexcused absences from public school in any one month or ten unexcused absences from public school during any academic year" (C.R.S. 22-33-102(3.5)). That definition is a count. It does not ask whether the child was distressed, whether you knew, or whether you were trying.

Only unexcused absences count toward it. State law requires each district's attendance policy to provide for excused absences, including "temporary absences due to behavioral health concerns" (C.R.S. 22-33-104(4)(a)). The statute does not define that phrase or say what documentation is needed, so district policies differ; check yours.

Our guide to Colorado attendance law explains the thresholds, the plan a district must develop and the court process. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why the label matters for the response

A label carries an assumption about cause. If absence is read as willful skipping, the usual tools are consequences. If it is read as distress, the tools are support, a plan for getting back, and treatment for what is underneath.

Consequences aimed at a frightened child can miss. The UK charity YoungMinds advises parents not to "shout, tell them off or physically force them into school," and warns that making a child go in "without changing anything can make their anxiety worse in the long-term."

Colorado's truancy statutes also point toward support. District policy must provide for a plan developed "with the goal of assisting the child to remain in school," and may address "the likely issues underlying the child's truancy, including any nonacademic issues" (C.R.S. 22-33-107(3)(b)). The statute describes court as "a last-resort approach" (C.R.S. 22-33-108(5)(b)) and says a delinquent act "does not include truancy or habitual truancy" (C.R.S. 22-33-102(5)). District policies differ; check yours. But a school can only respond to distress it knows about.

What to tell the school

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to discuss school avoidance with school staff, including the teacher, the principal and the school nurse. The earlier that happens, the less likely absences are to pile up unexplained.

• Report every absence and give the real reason. YoungMinds suggests saying a child cannot come "because they are too anxious," not that they are unwell or do not want to.
• Describe what you see and what you are doing: the physical complaints, the panic or shutdown, that your child is at home with you, and any doctor or therapy appointments.
• Ask how the district's policy treats behavioral health absences and what documentation the school wants. Ask in writing.
• Ask staff not to send your child home without good reason. Nationwide Children's advises making sure school officials "don't send the child home for the wrong reasons."

Our guide on how to talk to the school goes further.

Chronic absenteeism: the umbrella term

You may also hear that your child is "chronically absent." The Colorado Department of Education defines it this way: "A student absent 10 percent or more of the days enrolled during the school year is chronically absent." All absences are included: unexcused, excused and suspensions.

So an absence your district excuses does not count toward the habitual truancy threshold, but it does count toward chronic absenteeism. The term measures how much school has been missed, for any reason. It is not a legal finding and says nothing about why.

When you are not sure which it is

You do not need to settle the label before you act. AACAP describes a good evaluation as talking with the child, parents and teachers, a doctor's visit to rule out physical causes, and "figuring out what's really driving the avoidance."

A therapist can help with that question. Mountainside Behavioral Health offers outpatient CBT, DBT and parent training for ages 8 and up and their parents, in Greenwood Village and by telehealth across Colorado. See school refusal and school avoidance support.

If your child talks about wanting to die, is harming themselves, or you are worried about their safety, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Colorado Mental Health Line (free, confidential, 24/7). If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• What is school refusal?
• Colorado attendance law and school refusal
• How to talk to the school
• Why kids refuse school
• School refusal in teenagers
• School refusal and school avoidance support

All school refusal resources →

This page is general education, not medical or legal advice, and it does not replace an evaluation by a licensed professional who knows your child. Laws, district policies and program details change; confirm them with your school district or the organization named.