The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of perceived social support and academic self-efficacy of innovative elementary school students on school happiness. For this purpose, this study investigated social support, academic self-efficacy, ...
The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of perceived social support and academic self-efficacy of innovative elementary school students on school happiness. For this purpose, this study investigated social support, academic self-efficacy, and school happiness of elementary school students attending innovative schools and analyzed the relationship between the three variables.
In this study, the population was 458 innovative elementary school students in the sixth grade in Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City, and the study was conducted for the entire population. A total of 458 questionnaires were distributed to seven innovative elementary schools that were studied, and a total of 364 copies were retrieved from the data collection(return rate: 79.5%), and of these, 346 questionnaires were used for the final analysis, except for questionnaires with unsatisfactory or unanswered responses.
Referring to prior research on school happiness, social support, and academic self-efficacy, this study used a questionnaire consisting of 80 questions on general matters related to students(1), school happiness (24), social support(27), and academic self-efficacy(28). The reliability test results show high reliability with .91 in school happiness, .95 in social support, and .92 in academic self–efficacy. Collected data was analyzed in descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis with the SPSS 18.0 statistical program.
The findings were summarized as follows: first, the level of perceived social support(M=4.28), academic self-efficacy(M=3.65), and school happiness (M=4.01) of elementary school students at innovative schools was higher than the average. Among the sub-factors, parent support, self-confidence, and friendship levels were the highest. Secondly, the coefficient of social support and school happiness was .745, indicating a strong linear relationship, and among the sub-factors of social support, teacher support showed the strongest relative to school happiness. The coefficient of correlation between academic self-efficacy and school happiness was .595, indicating a marked linear relationship, and among the sub–factors of academic self–efficacy, self-regulating effectiveness was the strongest relative to school happiness. Thirdly, social support and academic self-efficacy explained 65.8%(R2=.658) of school happiness, and all sub-factors of social support and academic self-efficacy had a statistically significant effect on school happiness.
The major findings of this study led to the following conclusions: first, elementary school students at innovative schools were highly aware of teacher support, and teacher support had a strong linear relationship with school happiness. Secondly, there was a static correlation between social support, academic self-efficacy, and school happiness, and among the sub-factors, teacher support and friend support showed the strongest relative to school happiness. Thirdly, social support and academic self-efficacy had a significant effect on school happiness, and among the sub-factors, teacher support and task difficulty were the most influential.
Based on these findings, the following are suggested: first, it turned out that teacher support had the most powerful effect on school happiness, therefore the relationship between teacher support type and school happiness needs to be identified in depth. Secondly, subsequent studies may need to expand the use of the study results in a way that extends the region and school year of the study. Thirdly, more in-depth research could be made if qualitative research is combined with quantitative research to reflect the diverse opinions of the school field.