What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to compare rates of chronic absenteeism in Canadian kindergarten classes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and examine its association with developmental vulnerabilities.

June 17, 2026PLoS ONEOpen Access

Chronic absenteeism in Canadian kindergarten classes, pre- and post-COVID-19, and its association with concurrent developmental vulnerability

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Authors

CRCaroline Reid‐WestobyMcMaster University EDEric DukuMcMaster University AGAshley GaskinMcMaster University

Discussion

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Implication

Population-level study reveals increased chronic absenteeism in kindergarten, impacting developmental vulnerability.

Key Points

This study aims to compare rates of chronic absenteeism in Canadian kindergarten classes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and examine its association with developmental vulnerabilities.
Conducted a repeated cross-sectional cohort study with 513,159 kindergarten children across Canada.
Defined chronic absenteeism as being absent from school at least 10% of the time, comparing pre-COVID-19 (2017–2020) and post-COVID-19 (2020–2023) cohorts.
Analyzed demographic shifts in absenteeism related to socioeconomic status and jurisdictional differences.
Chronic absenteeism increased from 17.7% pre-COVID-19 to 41.3% post-COVID-19 across Canada.
Post-COVID-19 kindergarten children were three times more likely to be chronically absent compared to pre-COVID-19 peers.
The association between chronic absenteeism and developmental vulnerability decreased, with more chronically absent children coming from higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods.

Cite This Study

Reid‐Westoby et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a323d93d50b63ecad207292 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345192

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June 17, 2026PLoS ONEOpen Access

Chronic absenteeism in Canadian kindergarten classes, pre- and post-COVID-19, and its association with concurrent developmental vulnerability

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

CRCaroline Reid‐WestobyMcMaster University EDEric DukuMcMaster University AGAshley GaskinMcMaster University

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Population-level study reveals increased chronic absenteeism in kindergarten, impacting developmental vulnerability.

Key Points

This study aims to compare rates of chronic absenteeism in Canadian kindergarten classes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and examine its association with developmental vulnerabilities.
Conducted a repeated cross-sectional cohort study with 513,159 kindergarten children across Canada.
Defined chronic absenteeism as being absent from school at least 10% of the time, comparing pre-COVID-19 (2017–2020) and post-COVID-19 (2020–2023) cohorts.
Analyzed demographic shifts in absenteeism related to socioeconomic status and jurisdictional differences.
Chronic absenteeism increased from 17.7% pre-COVID-19 to 41.3% post-COVID-19 across Canada.
Post-COVID-19 kindergarten children were three times more likely to be chronically absent compared to pre-COVID-19 peers.
The association between chronic absenteeism and developmental vulnerability decreased, with more chronically absent children coming from higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods.

Cite This Study

Reid‐Westoby et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a323d93d50b63ecad207292 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345192

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