Counseling truants back to school: Motivation combined with a program for action.

Conducted a study with 32 13-17 yr old male chronic truants from a low-income, inner-city area. Ss were given counseling aimed at returning them to regular attendance. Optimistic vs threat appeal and presence vs absence of supportive instruction were manipulated in a 2 * 2 design, and persuasion was assessed both as verbal intention to attend school regularly and as actual attendance. Supportive instruction included the continuing availability of a tutor. Results show that threat appeal was sufficient to change intention to return to school, but supportive instruction was necessary to change actual attendance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)