Japan - Specialists have discovered that depression may be an important factor in truancy.

In the past, truancy was referred to as a phobia of school or boycotting of classes, but from the 1990s, it was simply said that students just did not want to go to school.

The change in terminology demonstrates a change in views on what causes truancy.

Truants were generally thought to be children who were suffering from emotional problems.

But now, the consensus holds that all children--regardless of their upbringing or personal problems--are tempted to skip school.

Such a view demonstrates the laxity with which society has come to view truancy.

Ryuji Kodama, the 56-year-old director of Nagashida no Mori Shinryo Clinic, presented research data on the subject at a conference of the Japan Association for School Mental Health.

The former Tokyo Gakugei University professor operates a school for children who regularly skip school and has emphasized the need for care that helps nurture children's minds rather than placing a high priority on medical treatment.

According to Kodama's data, 131 primary and middle school children visited his clinic over two years since October 2001. Eighty-four of them showed what Kodama termed a "tendency" toward truancy.

He used the word tendency because he wanted to include in the data children who attended school, but spent the day in the school's sickroom or those who only attended school in the afternoon.

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