The Role of Academic and Social Factors in Explaining School Satisfaction

Despite the fact that the focus within educational research is often placed on cognitive factors and academic achievements, children's social and emotional experiences are also very relevant for their overall school commitment. Consequently, the goal of the present study was to investigate the relevance of students' social self-efficacy and perceived academic control, as well as social integration and the perception of teacher support for their general school satisfaction. The study was conducted in elementary schools where a total of 302 students enrolled into seventh and eighth grade completed the prepared questionnaires. The obtained results indicated social integration, teacher support, perceived academic control and school achievement as statistically significant predictors of school satisfaction. Furthermore, perceived academic control was revealed as a mediator with regard to the relationship between other predictors with school satisfaction. These findings indicate the relevance of different types of students' beliefs regarding their own characteristics for their school satisfaction. They also suggest that in addition to their academic experience, children's social experiences also influence their school satisfaction and should be considered with more care when planning and organizing school activities.