Social Exclusion and Tendency to Violence as Predictors of Alienation from School among High School Students in Turkey

Abstract

This study was carried out to explain social exclusion and tendency to violence as predictors of alienation from school among adolescents. The sample of the study consisted of 595 students studying in different high schools. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. According to the results obtained, it was determined that the participants' levels of the tendency to violence, social exclusion, and alienation from school were not very high, and the participants were mostly socially distanced. It was determined that students' levels of the tendency to violence had positive and significant effects on “powerlessness,” “normlessness,” “meaninglessness,” and “social isolation” that are the sub-dimensions of alienation from school. Furthermore, it was determined that "Ignorance," one of the sub-dimensions of social exclusion, had positive and significant effects on all sub-dimensions other than the "social isolation" sub-dimension, one of the sub-dimensions of alienation from school, and that ignorance had a negative and significant effect on social isolation. It was determined that "exclusion," one of the sub-dimensions of social exclusion, had positive and significant effects on “powerlessness” and “social isolation,” which are among the sub-dimensions of alienation from school, however, it had no significant effects on the sub-dimensions of “normlessness” and “meaninglessness.”