The purpose of this review of the literature is to delineate and discuss the existing research on excessive tardiness in school. The reviewed studies can be divided into two broad research categories: (a) Causes and Correlates of Excessive Tardiness; and (b) Programs Designed To Remediate Excessive Tardiness. To make the examination as comprehensive as possible, the two discussed categories of excessive tardiness will include both the early and the current research in the area.
In technical terms, the presented literature review may be characterized as an attempt to answer three research questions regarding tardiness. These are:
(1) What appear to be the root causes of excessive tardiness?
(2) What are the correlates of excessive tardiness?
(3) What types and kinds of programs appear to be effective for use in remediating the problem of excessive tardiness?
The review ends with the formulation of answers to the foregoing research questions.
Causes and Correlates of Excessive Tardiness
Causes. Bergman (1978) conducted a comprehensive review of the very early research on the causes of excessive tardiness in school. Based on his examination, Bergman found three major reasons for a student being habitually late to class. The first reason was said to be psychological. In this regard, Bergman stated that in some cases students have either an overt or covert psychoemotional resistance to school attendance.
The second reason was disorganization either on the part of the student or the parent. In other words, the student or his parents merely were not good managers of their time and as a result tended to be late; in the case of parents, this tardiness was said to permeate their lives and to not just be related to dropping their children off at school.
The third major reason had to do with scheduling. In these cases, Bergman (1978) stated that often parents and/or students scheduled their obligatio...