Abstract
Difficulties that junior adolescents (aged 11–13 years old) experience in terms of academic adaptation, which are indicated through school anxiety and academic wellbeing characteristics, often lead to a dramatic decrease in academic performance, behavioral problems, and deterioration of their health. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the structure of characteristics of school wellbeing/ill-being of junior adolescents and their role in variations of school anxiety, which largely define academic adaptation. In this study, based on positive psychology and a systematic approach, the level of distinctiveness of characteristics of school wellbeing is carried out with the help of comparative analysis; the factor structure of these characteristics is identified; the characteristics of wellbeing and their coordinated combinations (factors) are determined as predictors of school anxiety. The sample consisted of 120 students of the 5th–7th grades, aged M = 11.5; SD = 1.04 (49.2% girls, 50.8% boys) who attended Saratov secondary schools. To study the level of school anxiety, we used the Philips’ School Anxiety Scale (SAS), and indicators of school wellbeing were measured with the original scales developed by the authors of the study. Statistical processing of the results was carried out with regression analysis and factor analysis. The results showed that the school wellbeing of junior adolescents forms a complex structure that includes cognitive, personal, emotional, social, and psychophysiological characteristics of school life. It was found that from 16% up to 53% of the deviation of variables characterizing school anxiety is conditioned by the assessment of variables characterizing emotional states, the ability of self-regulation, cognitive capabilities, and interest in learning. The study determined a high level of tension in adolescents in the field of emotions’ self-regulation, unpleasant physical sensations at school, before and after attending school, in the course of planning their school day and reflecting on educational activities. The most powerful factors of school anxiety in junior adolescents are physical distress, low ability to self-regulate and social adaptation, lack of independence in a learning activity, and personal immaturity.
Highlights
Introduction iationsThe problem of adolescents’ school wellbeing is of genuine concern, despite the seemingly well-thought issues related to organizing their adaptation to the academic environment, the system of interrelations between all of its subjects, and the educational process
The result of the regression analysis is a model (Table 4) in which (1) school wellbeing is based on physical wellbeing, self-regulation, and social adaptation and (2) school wellbeing based on autonomy and personal maturity explained 21% of the total variance of school anxiety
As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that two new variables of school wellbeing based on physical wellbeing, self-regulation and social adaptation, and school wellbeing based on autonomy and personal maturity explain nearly 21% of variations of adolescents’ school anxiety
Summary
Introduction iationsThe problem of adolescents’ school wellbeing is of genuine concern, despite the seemingly well-thought issues related to organizing their adaptation to the academic environment, the system of interrelations between all of its subjects, and the educational process. Adolescents face a variety of problems that lead to anxiety and frustration. These include lack of attention to individual characteristics of their development [1]; school responsibilities and excessive academic demands; intense relations with both peers and adults [2]. Modern psychological research, which is carried out worldwide, has recorded the highest rates of school anxiety in children of this age category, in Russia. An increased level of school anxiety is a trigger for a number of somatic disorders. These include: endocrine system disorders, eating disorders, metabolic disorders, immune disorders, nervous system disorders [3].
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