Social Support, Self-Concept and Resilience as Protectors Against School Maladjustment During Adolescence

Abstract School maladjustment results in greater emotional and academic distress and reduces subjective well-being among adolescents. It is therefore important to identify the variables that contribute to school adjustment problems in order to enable interventions designed to improve or mitigate them during this developmental period. The aim of the present study is to use structural equation modeling to examine the potential impact of social support, self-concept and resilience on school adjustment problems. Participants were 1397 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years ( M = 13.88 and SD = 1.27). The results reveal that peer support has a direct negative relationship on school integration problems, and that support from families and teachers has an indirect contribution through self-concept and resilience. The percentage of variance in school integration problems explained by the variables included in the study was 36.4%. The results have serious theoretical–practical implications that broaden the range of possibilities for preventing problems of this kind.