School refusal—when children resist going to school or avoid it altogether—is a real concern for many families. Researchers in Japan wanted to understand which inner strengths help children push through these worries and stay engaged with school.
They surveyed 587 elementary school students (280 boys and 306 girls) about their resilience, problem-solving abilities, and any school refusal feelings. Resilience here means the capacity to bounce back from difficulty; problem-solving (or "solution building") means the ability to work through challenges by finding practical answers.
Boys benefit more from direct resilience
For boys, the study found a direct link: those with higher resilience showed less intense school refusal behavior. In other words, when boys felt more able to handle setbacks, they were more likely to show up and engage. However, this is a single study in Japan with self-reported data, so the finding may not apply universally across all contexts.
Girls' path runs through problem-solving
For girls, resilience alone didn't directly reduce school avoidance. Instead, resilience helped girls develop better problem-solving skills, which then reduced school refusal behavior. This suggests that for girls in this sample, the ability to think through solutions to their worries was the active ingredient—and resilience helped them build that skill.
Both skills matter, but the route differs
The overarching finding is clear: children with higher resilience and strong problem-solving abilities experience less intense school refusal. Yet how these strengths work together appears to differ by gender. This suggests that when supporting a child who is struggling with school attendance or anxiety, parents and educators might consider both emotional resilience (the ability to handle difficulty) and practical problem-solving (breaking down worries into solvable steps)—and may need to emphasize different aspects depending on whether they're supporting a son or daughter.
Note: This research comes from a Japanese setting with a relatively large sample, but findings are based on what children reported about themselves, which can be subjective.