مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - AN EXAMINATION OF THE SOCIAL ANXIETY AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AS THE PREDICTORS OF SCHOOL ATTACHMENT AMONG EARLY ADOLESCENTS

Abstract :

The purpose of this study is to investigate social anxiety and depressive symptoms, as predictors of school attachment in early adolescents. This study is a correlational study investigating relations among school attachment, social anxiety and depressive symptoms. School attachment is the dependent variable, whereas social anxiety, depressive symptoms are the independent ones. The sample of the study was composed of 450 elementary school students (242 females, 208 males) attending to an elementary school in Diyarbakır city center during 2011-2012 schooling period. Students were in 11-15 age range and, the average age was 12.86 with a standard deviation of 1.08. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and standard multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data by using SPSS 17. Results showed there is a negative relationship between school attachment and social anxiety and depressive symptoms. It was also found that General Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD-G) and depressive symptoms were important predictors of school attachment. The findings showed that Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE), and Social Avoidance and Distress in New Situations (SAD-N) were not significant predictors of school attachment. The lower level of school attachment in adolescents are related to psychological problems, application of psycho-education groups or group counseling with such adolescents would be quite useful.