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Bae: Causal Relationships between School Adjustment of Middle School Students and Related Variables
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J Korean Acad Nurs 2008;38(3):454-464.

Published online: 30 June 2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2008.38.3.454

Causal Relationships between School Adjustment of Middle School Students and Related Variables

Jeongyee Bae

Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Inje University, Busan, Korea

Address reprint requests to : Bae, Jeongyee Department of Nursing, Inje University, 633-165 Gaegeum-dong, Jin-gu, Busan 614-735, Korea Tel: 82-51-890-6823 Fax: 82-51-896-9840 E-mail: jibai@inje.ac.kr

Received 31 March 2008       Accepted 26 May 2008

Copyright © 2008 Korean Society of Nursing Science

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify the causal relationship of familial factors (parental acceptance, autonomy, and family satisfaction), social support (teacher’s support and friend’s support), school achievement, self-concept, and school adjustment. Based on preceding research, this study established a path model of school adjustment and its related variables.

Methods

Two thousand six hundred and twenty nine middle school students participated in this study. Data were collected by a visit-survey with an organized questionnaire and was analyzed by the SPSS and AMOS programs.

Results

Self-concept showed a significantly direct influence to school adjustment while both family satisfaction and school achievement directly and indirectly influenced school adjustment. Parental acceptance, autonomy, and social support indirectly influenced school adjustment.

Conclusion

These results imply that first, family satisfaction and self-concept are essential to solve the problems of school adjustment. Especially friend’s support, teacher’s support and school achievement should help improve the self-concept and school adjustment. Second, a variety of programs are available for schools to employ in an effort to provide interventions for students who demonstrate school maladjustment. Finally, it is necessary for family, school and society members to comprehensively cooperate to improve school adjustment.

Keywords: Adolescent, Adjustment, Self concept, Social support, Family

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Fig. 1.
Testing for hypothetical model.
jkan-38-454f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Testing for modified model.
jkan-38-454f2.tif
Table 1.
Degree of School Adjustment according to Characteristics of Adolescents (N=2,629)
Characteristics n (%) Mean SD t or F p
Grade 1st grade 852 (32.4) 27.95 3.51 18.73 <.0001
2nd grade 828 (31.5) 26.84 3.59
3rd grade 949 (36.1) 26.83 3.25
Sex Male 1,196 (45.5) 27.00 3.43 2.49 .013
Female 1,433 (54.5) 26.67 3.39
Religion Christian 577 (21.9) 26.73 3.60 3.69 .011
Catholic 154 (5.9) 27.47 3.35
Buddhism 855 (32.5) 26.99 3.34
None 1,043 (39.7) 26.64 3.36
Father’s education Below middle school 84 (3.2) 26.17 4.01 23.75 <.0001
High school 1,094 (41.6) 26.33 3.28
Above college 1,451 (55.2) 27.23 3.42
Mother’s education Below middle school 108 (4.1) 25.86 3.58 21.90 <.0001
High school 1,467 (55.8) 26.53 3.29
Above college 1,038 (39.5) 27.34 3.49
No response 16 (0.6)
Economic status Very poor 44 (1.7) 24.70 4.04 28.19 <.0001
Rather poor 348 (13.2) 25.80 3.39
Average 1,838 (69.9) 26.79 3.31
Rather affluent 364 (13.8) 28.17 3.34
Very affluent 29 (1.1) 28.00 4.25
No response 6 (0.2)
Academic performance (rank/class) Within 5 384 (14.6) 28.73 3.12 103.37 <.0001
6-10 428 (16.3) 27.99 3.06
11-20 813 (30.9) 26.99 3.10
21-30 676 (25.7) 25.63 3.27
Above 31 300 (11.4) 24.81 3.37
No response 28 (1.1)
Smoking experience None 2,160 (82.2) 27.11 3.35 32.65 <.0001
Occasionally 293 (11.1) 25.61 3.42
Gave up smoking 69 (2.6) 25.15 3.28
Always 86 (3.3) 24.95 3.27
No response 21 (0.8)
Drinking experience None 1,222 (46.5) 27.38 3.34 30.54 <.0001
Occasionally 988 (37.6) 26.63 3.39
Gave up drinking 44 (1.7) 25.61 3.36
Always 351 (13.4) 25.56 3.37
No response 24 (0.9)
Experience of drugs use None 2,572 (97.8) 26.83 3.41 2.58 .052
Occasionally 16 (0.6) 26.18 3.27
Stopped now 2 (0.1) 26.50 2.12
Abused now 9 (0.3) 23.77 4.08
No response 30 (1.1)
Experience of running away from home (time) None 1,053 (40.1) 27.93 3.18 68.32 <.0001
Thought seriously 1,349 (51.3) 26.13 3.31
Once 121 (4.6) 26.03 3.84
Above twice 66 (2.5) 25.09 3.23
No response 40 (1.5)
Experience of absence without leave (time) None 2,428 (92.4) 27.93 3.18 68.32 <.0001
1-2 times 131 (5.0) 26.13 3.31
3-4 times 17 (0.6) 26.03 3.84
Above 5 times 30 (1.1) 25.09 3.23
No response 23 (0.9)
Experience of fighting (time) None 2,217 (84.3) 26.99 3.34 14.91 <.0001
1-2 times 265 (10.1) 26.41 3.47
3-4 times 45 (1.7) 24.48 3.88
Above 5 times 59 (2.2) 25.16 4.22
No response 43 (1.6)
Experience of sexual relation (time) None 2,427 (92.3) 26.83 3.39 3.64 .012
1-2 times 109 (4.1) 27.25 3.25
3-4 times 25 (1.0) 26.80 4.03
Above 5 times 48 (1.8) 25.33 4.34
No response 20 (.8)
Experience of suicidal attempt None 1,638 (62.3) 27.56 3.15 117.26 <.0001
Thought seriously 885 (33.7) 25.72 3.42
Attempted 61 (2.3) 23.86 3.90
No response 45 (1.7)
Table 2.
Correlation among Parental Acceptance, Autonomy, Family Satisfaction, Friend’s Support, Teacher’s Support, School Achievement, Self Concept and School Adjustment (N=2,629)
Variables School adjustment Parental acceptance Autonomy Family satisfaction Friend’s support Teacher’s support School achievement
r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
Parental acceptance .364 (<.0001)
Autonomy .150 (<.0001) .218 (<.0001)
Family satisfaction .422 (<.0001) .675 (<.0001) .280 (<.0001)
Friend’s support .357 (<.0001) .323 (<.0001) .155 (<.0001) .307 (<.0001)
Teacher’s support .392 (<.0001) .239 (<.0001) .002 (.926) .265 (<.0001) .229 (<.0001)
School achievement .229 (<.0001) .119 (<.0001) .035 (.069) .107 (<.0001) .115 (<.0001) .086 (<.0001)
Self-concept .567 (<.0001) .463 (<.0001) .214 (<.0001) .534 (<.0001) .435 (<.0001) .297 (<.0001) .256 (<.0001)
Table 3.
Model Fitness Index for Hypothetical and Modified Model (N=2,629)
Content Value of hypothetical model Value of modified model Evaluation criteria
χ2 394.00 54.9
df 18 14
p .00 .00 >.05
χ2/df 21.9 3.92 <3
Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) .92 .97 ≥.90
Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) .83 .91 ≥.90
Normed Fit Index (NFI) .80 .89 ≥.90
Parsimonious Normed of Fit Index (PNFI) .57 .59 ≥.0.6
Parsimonious Goodness of Fit Index (PGFI) .53 .55 Large value is better
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSE) .09 .05 ≤.05
Table 4.
Direct Effect, Indirect Effect, and Total Effect in Modified Path Model
Endogenous variables Exogenous variables Direct effect Indirect effect Total effect R2
Family satisfaction Parental acceptance .66 .66 .474
Autonomy .14 .14
School achievement Friend’s support .09 .09 .015
Family satisfaction .08 .08
Parental acceptance .05 .05
Autonomy .01 .01
Self-concept Family satisfaction .43 .02 .44 .344
Friend’s support .27 .02 .30
Teacher’s support .12 .12
School achievement .18 .18
Parental acceptance .28 .28
Autonomy .06 .06
School adjustment Family satisfaction .18 .20 .38 .359
Self concept .43 .43
School achievement .10 .08 .18
Parental acceptance .24 .24
Autonomy .05 .05
Friend’s support .14 .14
Teacher’s support .05 .05
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