Pilot study concerning school maladjustment in Secondary and High School Cycles

Abstract

This pilot study was carried out on 130 students from secondary and high school cycles, 53 of masculine gender, and 77 of the feminine gender, with an average age of 14 years (SD 2.67). There were applied the newly created School Maladjustment Questionnaire, in conjunction with a verbal intelligence test (Verbal Recombination) and a nonverbal one (Bonnardel 53), jointly provides an IQ. The study hypotheses predicted the existence of some gender differences concerning school maladjustment (more maladaptive reactions which are internal for girls and external for boys – unconfirmed). These differences are caused by the school cycle (more school maladjustment in high school which was confirmed only for the external component of academic maladjustment). There were predicted significant negative correlations of SQM with school averages and with intelligence level – these hypotheses were also confirmed.