The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument that measures school adjustment, the school adjustment scale, for school-aged children. Data were drawn from a sample of 4th-6th graders in five elementary schools located in four di...
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument that measures school adjustment, the school adjustment scale, for school-aged children. Data were drawn from a sample of 4th-6th graders in five elementary schools located in four districts in Seoul, using self-report questionnaires. The sample was divided randomly into two subsamples to develop and validate the school adjustment scale (1,055 children and 1,082 children, respectively). The survey questionnaires included an initial pool of 97 items of the school adjustment scale, and measures for children’s perception of parenting behaviors (Rhee, 2012), social competence (Doh, 1994), self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965; Suh, 2012), and ego-resilience (Block & Kremen, 1996; Kim, 2011) to test convergent validity of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis, Pearson product-moment correlations, and confirmatory factor analysis methods were employed to test the psychometric properties of the school adjustment scale with SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. The major findings of this study are as follows:
Principal axis factoring from the first sample resulted in 30 items to assess school adjustment which consisted of four factors: academic attitude/rule observance (9 items), relationships with peers (7 items), relationships with teachers (8 items), and school satisfaction (6 items). Academic attitude/rule observance refers to active involvement in class and school life, preparation and effort making for academic activities, adherence to school rules, and willingness to voluntarily participate in school activities. Relationships with peers refer to getting along well and creating friendly and harmonious relationships with school friends. Relationships with teachers also refer to showing amicable behaviors and establishing positive relationships with school teachers. School satisfaction signifies subjective appraisals of overall satisfaction, pleasure, and preferences related to school life.
Correlations with other school-aged children measures supported convergent validity of the school adjustment scale. Children who had higher scores in academic attitude/rule observance, relationships with peers and teachers, and school satisfaction reported greater social competence, self-esteem, ego resilience, and their mothers’ positive parenting behaviors. Confirmatory factor analyses on data from the second sample indicated adequate fit for the school adjustment scale, suggesting that the scale is applicable to elementary school children in late childhood with similar socio-demographic backgrounds.
The school adjustment scale developed in the present study comprised of four subscales including academic attitude/rule observance, relationships with peers, relationships with teachers, and school satisfaction, is an easily administered, reliable, and valid instrument. This scale is expected to yield valuable data pertaining to school adjustment and other related areas of study in parent-child relationships and child development.