Clima escolar, habilidades sociais, engajamento escolar e satisfação com a vida: um estudo de caracterização e associações com estudantes do final do Ensino Fundamental

Abstract

There is a high recurrence of evasion and school dropout in the final years of middle school in Brazil. Such phenomena are influenced by a series of risk factors in the lives of adolescents, in addition to being harmful to the course of life of these individuals, reducing their expectations of salary gain and quality of life. Despite this, few studies focus on this moment in the school trajectory. Based on the Bioecological Theory of Human Development, the general objective of the study is to characterize and investigate associations between social skills, school climate, school engagement and life satisfaction of students in the years of middle school, considering gender differences and repetition history. The specific objectives are: (1) Compare boys and girls in middle school in terms of school engagement; (2) Comparing boys and girls in middle school in terms of satisfaction with life; (3) Compare students with and without a history of repetition in relation to school engagement; (4) Comparing students with and without a history of repetition in relation to satisfaction with life; (5) Investigate associations between social skills and school climate with the school engagement of students in middle school; (6) Investigate associations between social skills and school climate with life satisfaction among students in middle school; (7) Test a predictive model to assess the impact of social skills and school climate on school engagement and life satisfaction of students in the middle school, considering differences by gender and repetition. Participants were 659 students, aged between 10 and 18 years (M= 12.37 years; SD=1.50) of both sexes who attend middle school (6th, 7th, 8th and 9th year) from eight public schools located in a city located in the State of Rio de Janeiro. Adolescents responded to the following instruments: (1) Student Engagement at School Scale – four-dimensional version (EAE-E4D) (2) Global Life Satisfaction Scale for Adolescents; (3) Delaware School Climate - Student Version; (4) Adolescent Social Skills Inventory – Short version; (5) Questionnaire with Demographic Information. Statistical analysis performed: t-Student test; Pearson's r correlation; multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicate that boys have higher levels of school engagement as a whole and life satisfaction. Students with a history of failure have lower levels of school engagement. There is a positive correlation between school engagement and school climate, as well as between the former and social skills. The outcome variable satisfaction with life also has a positive correlation with the protective factors social skills and school climate. In the regression analysis, it was found that school engagement has 35% of its variability explained by the variables of social skills and school climate as a whole. The variables teacher-student relationship, empathy, affective approach, absence of bullying, respect for diversity, fairness of the rules and failure predict school engagement. While 24% of the variability in life satisfaction is explained by the variables of social skills and school climate as a whole. All classes of social skills, except affective approach, are significant for predicting life satisfaction. The variables sex, self-control, empathy, teacher-student relationship, respect for diversity, student engagement, absence of bullying, assertiveness predict satisfaction with life. The results allowed understanding the variables that influence school engagement and life satisfaction of students in middle school, with emphasis on the social skill of empathy. This information can be used in preventive intervention programs focused on promoting the mental health of students, parents and teachers.