The Role of Junior Adolescents’ School Well-Being/Ill-Being Characteristics in School Anxiety Variations

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.

Reliability and validity evidence of the School Anxiety Inventory scores in a sample of Spanish children: A new self‐report

“…Specifically, school anxiety may occur in childhood with greater intensity, frequency, and duration before school changes, such as those derived from the expansion of Sars‐Cov2 (Kamran & Naeim, 2021), transitions of the educational stage (La Greca & Burdette, 2022; Xu et al, 2021), or certain school events such as academic evaluation, social evaluation, failure, school punishment, or circumstances linked to peer aggression and/or victimization (García‐Fernández et al, 2014; Gómez‐Núñez et al, 2017; Ingles et al, 2015). Among the consequences of school anxiety are the likelihood of lower academic performance and problems in school well‐being (Hossain et al, 2021; Shamionov et al, 2021), increased experiences of bullying and higher rates of aggressiveness (Delgado, García‐Fernández, et al, 2019; Torregrosa et al, 2020), somatic complaints (Jastrowski Mano, 2017), increase in school refusal (Gómez‐Núñez et al, 2019; Gonzálvez, Ingles, Sanmartín et al, 2018; Tekin & Aydın, 2022), cognitive distortions (Abend et al, 2017), depressive symptoms (Alesi et al, 2014), and social anxiety (Delgado, Escortell Sánchez, et al, 2019).…”

“…Psychol Schs. 2024;61:686-705. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pits consequences of school anxiety are the likelihood of lower academic performance and problems in school wellbeing (Hossain et al, 2021;Shamionov et al, 2021), increased experiences of bullying and higher rates of aggressiveness (Delgado, García-Fernández, et al, 2019;Torregrosa et al, 2020), somatic complaints (Jastrowski Mano, 2017), increase in school refusal (Gómez-Núñez et al, 2019;Gonzálvez, Ingles, Sanmartín et al, 2018;Tekin & Aydın, 2022), cognitive distortions (Abend et al, 2017), depressive symptoms (Alesi et al, 2014), and social anxiety (Delgado, Escortell Sánchez, et al, 2019).…”

Types of academic adaptation of adolescents with limited health capacities

“…В настоящее время имеются лишь отдельные исследования, способствующие пониманию ее специфики и факторов. Та, установлены высокий уровень напряженности подростков в области саморегуляции эмоций, наличие неприятных физических ощущений в школе, трудности планирования учебного дня и рефлексии учебной деятельности [4]. Ю.А.…”

“…Связь способности подростков понимать эмоции и управлять ими с академической адаптацией обнаруживалась и ранее[29]. Полученные данные о личностных и субъектных факторах школьного благополучия подростков также соотносятся с нашими прежними исследованиями[4]. Между тем, относительно более низкие показатели учебной мотивации и психофизиологического напряжения в школе, очевидно в целом способствующие снижению академической адаптации подростков с ОВЗ, отражают трудности, которые они испытывают, включаясь в школьную жизнь.…”

Coping with Everyday Stress, Assessment and Relationships, Psychological Adjustment, Well-Being and Socioemotional Adjustment

“…In particular, it focuses on how these changes contributed to increasing students’ anxiety levels and the need for interventions to support university students with safe learning environments and the promotion of strategies and counseling services for coping with the situation. Similarly, another study [ 2 ] focuses on evaluating the relevant construct of school anxiety in the adolescent population and indicators of psychological well-being, finding concerns regarding self-regulation of emotions in this population. Thus, it can be pointed out that more studies are needed to focus on variables such as school anxiety and daily stressors.…”