School Engagement: Effect of Support for Parents, Teachers, and Peers in Adolescence

Abstract This work investigated the contribution of the social support of the family, teachers and peers to the school engagement. Participants were 504 adolescents, with a mean age of 15.88 (SD = 0.88) enrolled in high school in public schools. The instruments were Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Brazilian Delaware Student Engagement Scale, Social Support Appraisals and Delaware School Climate Survey. Results from the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that teacher support contributed prominently to the explanation of variance in emotional and behavioral / cognitive engagement. Family support proved to be a predictor only for behavioral / cognitive engagement. Peer support showed explanatory capacity for both types of engagement, after being jointly considered the influence of support from family and teachers. We conclude that social support seems to influence cognitive / behavioral and emotional engagement differently. A more in-depth understanding of school engagement may favor the implementation of interventions that are better grounded in the school context.

摘要 本研究考察了家庭、教师与同伴的社会支持对学生学校参与度（school engagement）的贡献。研究对象为504名公立高中在校生，平均年龄为15.88岁（标准差SD=0.88）。本研究采用的研究工具包括社会人口学问卷、巴西版特拉华学生学校参与度量表（Brazilian Delaware Student Engagement Scale）、社会支持评定量表（Social Support Appraisals）以及特拉华学校氛围调查问卷（Delaware School Climate Survey）。层级回归分析结果表明，教师支持对情绪性学校参与度以及行为/认知学校参与度的方差解释贡献最为突出。家庭支持仅能预测行为/认知学校参与度。在同时纳入家庭与教师支持的影响后，同伴支持对两种类型的学校参与度均具备解释能力。本研究得出结论：社会支持对认知/行为学校参与度与情绪性学校参与度的影响存在差异。对学校参与度的更深入理解，将有助于推动更贴合学校场景的干预措施的落地实施。