Examining the relationship between anxiety and social stress with the sense of belonging of boys and girls in the second secondary school in Bandar Abbas city

Master's Thesis

General Psychology (M.A)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and social stress with the sense of belonging to the school of teenagers (boys and girls) in Bandar Abbas city. The statistical population of the present study included all male and female high school students in Bandar Abbas who were studying in 1993-1994. The method of estimating the sample size was using Cochran's formula, for this purpose, 300 students were selected as the research sample using a multi-stage random cluster method. The anxiety and stress questionnaire (DASS) and the sense of belonging to the Brown and Evans (2002) school scale were used to measure the research variables. Pearson's correlation coefficient and multivariate regression statistical tests were used simultaneously to analyze the research findings.

The results of the general regression analysis (without gender) showed that the social stress variable with a beta value of -0.29 and the anxiety variable with a beta value of -0.39 at the alpha level of 0.01 were significant predictors for the sense of belonging to school.

The results of the regression analysis in the boys group showed that that the social stress variable with a beta value of -0.27 and the anxiety variable with a beta value of -0.47 at the alpha level of 0.01 were significant predictors for the feeling of belonging to school.

The results of the regression analysis in the girls group showed that the social stress variable with a beta value of -0.25 and the anxiety variable with a beta value of -0.51 at the alpha level of 0.01 were significant predictors for the feeling of belonging to school.

Overall, the findings of this research showed that the two variables of social stress and anxiety are significant predictors for the variable of feeling of belonging to school among teenagers. Keywords: feeling of belonging to school, anxiety, social stress and teenagers. 1-1. Introduction

School can be considered as the second home of students. It is safe to say that the time students spend in the school environment is second only to the family environment. A healthy family environment is a warm environment, it is an environment where children and teenagers enjoy being in it and having a relationship with its members (father, mother, siblings) A school environment that meets the main needs of teenagers at this age and creates a sense of belonging to the school in teenagers. The basic needs of students in elementary and high school include stability, increasing individual independence situations, opportunities for competition, caring and supporting students and being accepted among friends (Paterson, 2007).

When the school environment meets the basic needs of teenagers, a feeling emerges in the student that he considers himself a part of the school, and he considers himself a partner in achieving the goals of the school or the school community. Patterson, 2007).

A sense of belonging is a process by which people see themselves as similar to another person or a group of people. And it acts as an effective source of people's motivation for joint action and activity. The sense of being one with a human group causes the personal goals and interests of individuals to be subordinated to the goals and interests of the group, which as a result increases the possibility of collective action based on common understanding (Kramer [1], 1996).

1-2. Statement of the problem

It can be said that the family environment during adolescence is less attractive than the environment of peers. At this age, which is the age of adolescent identification, adolescents turn away from the family environment and are attracted to the environment outside the family and its limitations. One of the most important environments that teenagers tend to is the peer environment (Karcher[2], Holcomb[3] and Zambrano[4], 2008). The peer environment is not a healthy environment and deviations (such as smoking, sexual deviations, drug use) are abundant in it (Karcher, Holcomb and Zambrano, 2008). Among the alternatives that can be found for the environment of peers at this age is the school environment. If the school environment meets the main needs of teenagers at this age, it creates a sense of belonging to the school in teenagers. The basic needs of students in elementary and high school are stability, increasing individual independence situations, opportunities for competition, caring and supporting students and being accepted among friends (Rova[5], Stewart[6] and Patterson[7], 2007).

Now here it is necessary to provide explanations about the concept of belonging to the school and the factors affecting it. Several definitions have been mentioned about the feeling of belonging to the school, some of them are mentioned here.

Many of the definitions are based on the ecological perspective or based on the social dimension. In this approach, the feeling of belonging in a general way is to describe the quality of communication at the community level, and specifically (a sense of belonging to the school) is defined as the perspective of people that increases their bond with the school environment (Libby, 2000, cited by McNally [8] et al., 2002). McNally et al. (2002) considers the most important elements of this belonging to be the effective communication of individuals with members of the school community, the degree of belonging of individuals to collective goals and inclusion or the degree of involvement of members in social activities. In this approach, it has been tried to look at the school as a part of the society, which should be examined in the social context. According to this approach, the school should have a system that respects all people with different beliefs and ethnicities (Rova, Stewart and Patterson, 2007).

Another approach in defining the feeling of belonging to the school is the psychological approach to the feeling of belonging to the school, which describes the feeling of belonging to the school as a psychological state in which students feel that they and other students are cared for and supported by the school (Schuchet[9] and Smith [10], 2009). Based on this approach, when students face strict rules from the school and are punished or even expelled for the first mistake in school, they have a lower sense of belonging than students who are easygoing in Madras (Lead[11] and Dinla[12], 2009). Karcher, Holcomb and Zambrano (2008) have expressed another definition in this context, which considers the sense of belonging to school as actions that make the student adapt to a specific activity or place. These actions increase the feeling of comfort, well-being and decrease the student's anxiety.

In another approach, the sense of belonging has been tried to be defined by its results and outcomes (Jamerson[13], Campos[14] and Greif[15], 2003). According to this approach, a person has a sense of belonging to school who has good grades and average in school. Activities in extracurricular affairs have been done (Neli [16] and Faki [17], 2004). In general, we can point out that the common element of all definitions of connection is a sense of security and independence. Several factors have been mentioned about the factors affecting the feeling of belonging to school, some of them are mentioned here. Vakasilas (2008) and shows that factors such as 1- racial and ethnic diversity 2- strict rules in schools 3- increase in the number of schools and classes 4- mismanagement in classes 5- increase in extracurricular activities are related to the increase or decrease of the sense of belonging to school. Karcher, Holcomb and Zambrano (2008) consider the factors that increase the sense of belonging to school to include three factors: 1- Acceptance by others 2- Support between Individual 3- Experienced sense of belonging. Sterman, quoting Betty [21] and Brio [22] (2005), says that although in the past extracurricular tasks were one of the best ways to increase the sense of belonging to the school, we have now come to the conclusion that increasing the communication between the teacher and peers is one of the most important factors affecting the feeling of belonging to the school.   A model that has been proposed for the sense of belonging is the internal model of work. Based on this model, the communication and manner of the child's communication with the first babysitter (parents) is formed. This interaction provides images of oneself and others and the surrounding environment, which affects the individual's experiences and the way of interpretation and interpretation, and becomes a more complex and stable model during life and provides the basis for relationships with others. Based on this model, increasing health in schools increases the sense of belonging in schools through the following two strategies: 1- A process that increases the participation of all people and creates a community. Also, activity in the society and equal and democratic participation among the members of the society.