Emotional Engagement and School Adjustment in Late Childhood: The Relationship between School Liking and School Belonging in Japan

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between school adjustment and emotional engagement in late childhood. Participants were Grade 5 and 6 Japanese children (N = 304; 164 boys, 200 girls). The School Liking and Avoidance Questionnaire (SLAQ) was used to measure children's emotional adjustment to school. The School Adjustment Scale, which was used to assess emotional engagement, consists of four factors: "friendships," "school work," "teacher-child relationships," and "school in general." The last factor was used to measure school belonging.

The Impact of Academic Press and Student Teacher Relationship on Childrens Emotional Adjustment

“…Penelitian sebelumnya menyebut emotional adjustment sebagai perasaan terhadap sekolah semisal menghargai dan merasa memiliki sekolah (school belonging) dan sejauh mana penghargaannya pada keberhasilan akademis (Smith, 2011). Emotional adjustment berperan penting dalam memprediksi keterlibatan anak dalam sekolah, karena emotional adjustment diketahui sebagai ukuran keinginan anak menghadiri ataupun mengabaikan dan menghindari sekolah (Ladd, Buhs and Seid, 2000;Honma and Uchiyama, 2014).…”

“…Artinya semakin bertambah pemberian bentuk-bentuk normatif seperti pekerjaan rumah, jumlah kelas pengajaran, tantangan akademik dan standar spesifik pencapaian siswa serta program asesmen performa pencapaaian dan belajar (Lee et al, 1999) secara langsung tidak berpengaruh pada semakin rendahnya tingkat emotional adjustment anak pada sekolah. Emotional adjustment anak terhadap sekolah terdiri dari dua bentuk presepsi, yakni rasa suka pada sekolah (school liking) dan penghindaran atau penolakan terhadap sekolah (school avoidance) (Honma and Uchiyama, 2014). Keberadaan pengaruh tidak langsung dari academic press dimediasi oleh relasi guru siswa, akan berpotensi meningkatkan rasa suka anak terhadap sekolah dan kegiatan bersekolah, tetapi dapat juga meningkatkan kadar penolakan anak pada sekolah.…”

Relationship between classroom social goal structures, gender, and social outcomes in Japanese elementary school children

“…In previous literature, school adjustment has been regarded as a multidimensional construct with several specific aspects, such as academic achievement, drop-out, motivation, classroom behavior (Cillessen & van den Berg, 2012), and attitudes toward others (Berndt & Keefe, 1995). On the other hand, some studies have determined children's level of school adjustment by considering its narrower aspects (e.g., Birch & Ladd, 1997; Honma & Uchiyama, 2014; Posner & Vandell, 1999), which emphasize aspects of children's affective experiences at school or in classrooms, such as school liking and school-related emotional well-being. These aspects seem to reflect children's global state of adjustment at school because they focus on the children's subjective experiences at their schools or in their classrooms.…”

Psychometric Properties of the School Liking and Avoidance Questionnaire in a Turkish Preschool Sample

“…In another study with Greek first-grade students (Mage = 77.22 months), Cronbach's alphas for school liking were .84, .86, and .89, for school avoidance were .75, .76 and .79 at pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments respectively (Vassilopoulos, Brouzos, & Koutsianou, 2018). SLAQ was also adapted for Japanese children by Otsui and colleagues but the results could not be reached because the article written in Japanese (cited in Honma & Uchiyama, 2014). In the validity and reliability study conducted by Smith (2011) with American children aged 5-12 years, the school liking subscale contained 7 items (Cronbach's α = .89 -.91) and the school avoidance subscale contained 5 items (Cronbach's α = .79 -.84).…”