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Does school satisfaction predict coping? A short‐term longitudinal examination in early adolescents
Author(s) -
Jiang Xu,
Fang Lue,
Lyons Michael D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/pits.22210
Subject(s) - psychology , coping (psychology) , developmental psychology , social support , longitudinal study , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , social psychology , clinical psychology , statistics , mathematics
We tested the hypothesis of school satisfaction being an antecedent to social coping behaviors in early adolescents ( N = 892) using a two‐wave cross‐lagged panel design. We also explored the possible bidirectional relations between school satisfaction and social coping behaviors. Four types of social coping behaviors in peer conflict contexts included social support seeking, self‐reliance, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors. The findings showed that school satisfaction significantly predicted three of the four coping behaviors (social support seeking, self‐reliance, and externalizing behaviors) in the expected directions. Among all the social coping behaviors, only social support seeking significantly predicted school satisfaction over time. Taken together, the results suggest that school satisfaction may be an antecedent that predicts most social coping behaviors in early adolescents. Furthermore, the relations between social support seeking coping and school satisfaction appeared to be reciprocal. Implications, especially the importance of monitoring students’ school satisfaction, are discussed.