Relational Competence, School Adjustment and Emotional Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Group of Junior High School Students of the Sicilian Hinterland

Abstract

Literature has demonstrated the influence of emotional adjustment toward manifestation of problem behaviors in adolescence above all during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research goal is to investigate the relational competence, the school adjustment and emotional skills in a group of junior high school students of the Sicilian hinterland. The research involved 213 students, among which 82 boys (38.1%) and 131 girls (61.9%), aged between 11 and 14 (M=12.98; S.D.=1.05), of which 6.7% have repeated the school year once. Participants completed following instruments: the Test of Interpersonal Relationships (TRI) developed by Bracken (1993) in order to value the perception of adolescents concerning the quality of their relationships in social, familial and school contexts; the Multidimensional Test of Self-Esteem (TMA) created by Bracken (2003), structured in six scales, which coincide with the dimensions considered constitutive of self-esteem, namely: Interpersonal Relationships, Emotional Competence, Control over the Environment, School Success, Family Life and Body Image Perception. Data show that a good emotional competence of adolescents has a positive influence on learning and scholastic success, but above all on their relational ability towards peer-group.