The Level of Social Competence and Its Relation to School Adjustment and Academic Achievement in Light of the Variables Sex and Academic Year among Secondary School Students

Abstract

The present study aimed at exploring the level of social competence and its relation to school adaptation and academic achievement in a sample of ninth, tenth and eleventh grade students, and showing the effect of the sex and the academic year variables and the interaction between them in the degree of social competence. The study sample consisted of )260( students who were chosen from the charity school and the Dubai Carmel School in the Emirate of Dubai. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher used the social competence and school adjustment scale according to teachers' estimates by Walker & MacConnell )1995( )Adolescence version( after the validity and reliability were constructed. The results showed that the students have a high level of all sub-fields of the scale except for the field of self-control. The results of the study indicated that the average of student’s grades in this field is moderate. The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the field of school adjustment and academic achievement, while there was no relationship between the fields (self-control, peer relations, emotional representation( and academic achievement. The results of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α = 0.05( in the total score of the scale and in the scores of the sub-fields between the ninth graders and eleventh grade students in favor of the ninth graders. The results also indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the total score of the scale and in the scores of the fields (peer relations and school adjustment) attributed to the academic year variable in favor of the tenth grade students. The results of the study also indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the total score of the scale and the scores of the subfields due to the interaction between the sex and the academic year.