ABSTRACT
The characteristics of families of children with school refiisal behavior are almost as heterogeneous as those of the children themselves. Many psychodynamically oriented authors initially characterized these families as enmeshed or dominated by a problematic mother-child relationship. Common descriptors of the latter included dependent, hostile, vacillating, exploitative, and guilt inducing (W.B.Frick, 1964). In addition, fathers were often described as passive and unwilling to interfere in the lives of family members. In case studies, school refusal behavior was largely associated with a hostile or self-perceived incompetent mother who rejected her child or who facilitated overdependency and school absenteeism (Kearney, 2001).
