School Climate and Responsibility as Predictors of Antisocial and Prosocial Behaviors and Violence: A Study towards Self-Determination Theory

Relations between school climates and bullying behaviors in Chinese adolescents: The mediating role of prosocial tendency

This research investigated the relationships between school climates and bullying behaviors in Chinese adolescents, and tested the mediating effect of prosocial tendency according to the seesaw effect. School climates were operationalized using three constructs: subjective diversity of student development goals, teacher support, and peer trust. Bullying behaviors included traditional (i.e., physical, nonphysical, and relational) and cyber bullying behaviors. We recruited 538 adolescents from three schools in Beijing, China (286 girls, 252 boys; average age = 12.47) and asked them to fill out the surveys measuring school climates and prosocial tendency at the outset and to report school bullying behaviors three months later. The results showed that subjective diversity of student development goals and peer trust were directly associated with less cyber bullying behavior. Moreover, teacher support and peer trust were indirectly associated with less traditional bullying behaviors via prosocial tendency. Our findings extend the existing literature on the relationships between school climates and bullying behaviors by incorporating different types of bullying behaviors, concentrating on Chinese adolescents from a cultural viewpoint, and tapping into the underlying mechanism via revealing prosocial tendency as a mediator. Theoretical and empirical contributions of this study, as well as practical implications are discussed.

School violence in Saudi Arabia: A scoping review

School violence comprises a broad spectrum of physical, psychological, and sexual acts that impact children and adolescents physically, psychologically, and academically. The aim of this article is to provide a scoping review of school violence in Saudi Arabia. The adversities of school violence and related forensic, legal, and social aspects from a Saudi Arabian perspective are discussed. The articles were extracted through the Medline, Embase, and Web of Science databases in a comprehensive criteria-based search strategy using relevant MeSH terms to identify papers related to school violence in Saudi Arabia from inception to October 6, 2022, and a total of 14 studies have been extracted and discussed. There were indicates that male students tend to engage in physical violence while females tend to engage in verbal violence. The consequences included having a significant impact on students' mental wellbeing, followed by a decrease in academic performance. Therefore, this study will identify the risk factors and present the preventive methods that can guide local institutions to establish new policies to increase awareness and implement culturally acceptable, community-based programs against school violence in Saudi Arabia.

School climate and adolescents' prosocial behavior: the mediating role of perceived social support and resilience

Prosocial behavior is crucial for adolescent socialization and plays a positive role in all aspects of adolescent development. Based on ecosystem theory and self-determination theory, this study aimed to explore the relationship among school climate, perceived social support, psychological resilience, and prosocial behavior. With 1,688 high school students being sampled, we utilized the Perceived School Climate Questionnaire, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Chinese Version of Mental Resilience Scale, and the Adolescent Prosocial Tendency Scale. The results showed that: (1) school climate, perceived social support, psychological resilience, and prosocial behavior were all positively correlated; (2) perceived social support and psychological resilience could independently mediate the relationship between school climate and prosocial behavior; these two mediating variables could develop a chain mediation effect to influence the link between school climate and prosocial behavior.

Longitudinal Relations Between School Climate and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Gratitude

Purpose

The school climate, which refers to the quality and character of school life, is associated with a wide range of developmental outcomes. Although researchers have shown considerable interest in uncovering the links between school climate and prosocial behavior, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Therefore, the current study was designed to investigate the mediating role of gratitude between school climate and adolescents' prosocial behavior.

Methods

A sample of 632 Chinese adolescents (363 girls and 269 boys; M_age = 16.83 years at time 1, SD = 0.68 years) completed a battery of sociometric and self-report questionnaires that measured school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior in three waves.

Results

Correlation analysis showed that school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior were all significantly and positively intercorrelated across the three waves. Importantly, gratitude completely mediated the relationship between school climate and prosocial behavior (β = 0.005 [95% confidence interval = 0.001, 0.013]) in the three-wave longitudinal mediation model.

Conclusion

As a positive disposition, gratitude fosters prosocial behavior and serves as a mediator between school climate and prosocial behavior. This study provides a theoretical explanation for cultivating adolescents' prosocial behavior and theoretical guidelines for interventions of schools and other socializing agents.

A Correlation Analysis between Undergraduate Students' Safety Behaviors in the Laboratory and Their Learning Efficiencies

Students' behaviors have a close relationship with their learning efficiencies, particularly about professional knowledge. Different types of behaviors should have different influences. Disclosing the special relationship between undergraduate students' conscious safety behaviors in their laboratory experiments with their learning efficiencies is important for fostering them into professional talents. In this study, a course entitled "Advanced Methods of Materials Characterization" was arranged to contain three sections: theoretical learning in the classroom, eight characterization experiments in the laboratory in sequence, and self-training to apply the knowledge. In the final examination, eighteen percent was allocated to the examination questions about safety issues. The students' scores for this section were associated with their total roll scores. Two quantitative relationships are disclosed. One is between the students' final examination score (y) and their subjective consciousness of safety behaviors (x) in their laboratory experiments, as y = 5.56 + 4.83 x (R = 0.9192). The other is between their grade point average (y) and safety behavior evaluation (x) as y = 0.51 + 0.15 x (R = 0.7296). Undergraduate students' behaviors in scientific laboratories need to be verified to have a close and positive relationship with their professional knowledge learning efficiencies. This offers a hint that improving students' safety behaviors and enhancing their subjective safety awareness are conducive to improving their learning efficiency for professional knowledge.

Predicting social skills in disadvantaged Chinese high school students through physical education

Introduction

This study analyzed the relationships between social skills and motivation to Physical Education, students´ perceived support regarding Physical Education lessons (from parents, teachers and peers) and basic needs satisfaction in a sample of disadvantaged high school Chinese students according to Self-Determination Theory-related main principles. Physical Education classes are a great opportunity to develop not only psychomotor and physiologically, but also psychosocially in young people, and that is why this study investigates the relationship between the social skills of the students and these other main variables of the Self-Determination Theory.

Methods

Two hundred and nine disadvantaged students enrolled in a camp organized by a non-governmental organization in Chengdu province (15.9 ± 0.83 years; 73.9% female and 26.1% male) completed the Chinese versions of the following Self-Determination Theory-related questionnaires (independent variables): Learning Climate Questionnaire, Activity- Feeling States Scale, Perceived Locus of Causality scale; and social skills questionnaire (dependent variable): Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters Scale.

Results

The standard multiple regression model to predict social skills based on perceived support, basic needs satisfaction and motivation towards Physical Education was significant (F(11, 195)= 13.85; p < .001; R²=.44; Cohen's f²= 0.78). The social skills of the students were positively related to peer support and relatedness subscales. In contrast, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation were adversely correlated with social skills.

Discussion

We believe that this information would help policymakers and teachers design new policies, actions, and teaching methodologies to implement for the development of Physical Education and sport programs in China, those that will help young people throughout their life span.

Physical Education Classes and Responsibility: The Importance of Being Responsible in Motivational and Psychosocial Variables

The objective of this research work was to analyse the different profiles that can be identified, based on levels of responsibility in relation to Self-Determination Theory, school climate and violence in Physical Education classes. For this, a total of 470 students of Compulsory Secondary Education or Baccalaureate were given a questionnaire where aspects related to motivation, basic psychological needs, responsibility, school social climate and violence were analysed. An analysis of these profiles was conducted, taking into account the variables of "personal responsibility" and "social responsibility", with the results leading to the conclusion that three profiles exist: "low responsibility" (n = 89), "moderate responsibility" (n = 187) and "high responsibility" (n = 194). The results reflected statistically significant differences in all the variables between the three profiles. The high responsibility cluster obtained significantly higher values for the different constructs of motivation (except in external regulation, where there were no differences, compared to the "moderate responsibility" group), basic psychological needs and school social climate. On the other hand, it obtained lower values in amotivation and violence, with no differences based on the sex or age of the participants in the distribution of the clusters. It is concluded that the more responsible profile can have positive results in psychological variables in Physical Education classes and in the general educational field. For this reason, the use of active methodologies, which have been extensively studied to promote responsibility in PE classes, could be an appropriate strategy to achieve a more adaptive psychological profile regardless of the gender or age of the students.

The Relationship Between Empowering Motivational Climate in Physical Education and Social Responsibility of High School Students: Chain Mediating Effect Test

Objective: This study aimed to contribute to understanding the mechanisms underlying the association between empowering motivational climate in physical education and social responsibility among high school students, and have important implications for interventions aimed at improving social responsibility among high school students. Methods: Through the quota sampling, 802 students (average age = 17 years, SD = 0.97 years) that complied with the requirements were surveyed from Anhui Province in China. Empowering motivational climate in physical education, social responsibility, interpersonal disturbance, and general self-efficacy were assessed using standard scales. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis, structural equation model test, and bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method were carried out in turn. Results: (1) Common method biases can be accepted in this study, and the correlation among empowering motivational climate in physical education, social responsibility, interpersonal disturbance, and general self-efficacy are all significant; (2)Empowering motivational climate in physical education, interpersonal disturbance and general self-efficacy can all predict social responsibility significantly; (3) Structural equation modeling indicates good fit: χ2/df = 2.86, RMESA = 0.068, CFI = 0.92, NNFI = 0.91, NFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.93. It indicates that interpersonal disturbance and general self-efficacy can play mediating roles between empowering motivational climate in physical education and social responsibility, respectively. After that, interpersonal disturbance as well as general self-efficacy in turn plays the chain mediating effect in the relationship between empowering motivational climate in physical education and social responsibility. The effect size of the mediating effect of interpersonal disturbance and general self-efficacy in the relationship between empowering motivational climate in physical education and social responsibility is 0.048 and 0.148, respectively, and the effect size of the chain mediating effect is 0.031. Conclusion: Empowering motivational climate in physical education not only has a direct effect on social responsibility among high school students, but also influences social responsibility by the chain mediating effect of interpersonal disturbance and general self-efficacy.

Implementation of a Hybrid Educational Program between the Model of Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) and the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) in Physical Education and Its Effects on Health: An Approach Based on Mixed Methods

The present study investigates the effect of an educational program hybridized between the Model of Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) and the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) in physical education classes on the health and psychosocial variables of students, as well as knowing the advantages and disadvantages of its implementation by teachers. The applied program lasted 11 weeks in two Secondary Education centers with a total of four teachers (two in the experimental group and two in the control group) and 99 students (55 from the control group and 44 from the experimental group). We use research methodology Mixed Methods with a quasi-experimental design, where students completed a questionnaire before and after the educational program and teachers were interviewed at the end of the intervention. The results of the questionnaires indicate significant improvements in the experimental group over time in terms of the intention to be physically active, as well as in autonomous motivation, the self-determination index, the index of psychological mediators, personal and social responsibility, and enjoyment. Moreover, the interviews show positive opinions regarding the organizational capacity of the session using this methodology and the interest of teachers in continuing to apply it in the future, as well as the need for initial and ongoing training for proper implementation. In conclusion, the hybridization between the TPSR and TGfU model is presented as an effective alternative to be applied in the educational context with the aim of improving young peoples’ intention to be physically active and psychological variables, such as motivation, responsibility, and enjoyment, in physical education classes.