Guilt and School Satisfaction among Turkish Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Self-esteem

Abstract

In this research, structural equation modeling was performed to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationships between guilt and school satisfaction in adolescents. Three hundred twenty-nine adolescents (51.1% girls, 49.9% boys; M _age = 13.64 yr., SD _age = 1.47) were recruited as participants from middle and high schools in Turkey. Data were collected via the Children’s Overall Satisfaction with Schooling Scale and the Multidimensional Adolescent Assessment Scale. Findings indicated that guilt was negatively associated with self-esteem and school satisfaction. Structural equation modelling revealed that self-esteem has a mediator role between guilt and school satisfaction. The results also confirmed that guilt predicted school satisfaction mediated by self-esteem via bootstrapping procedure. The results of the research suggest that self-esteem, among adolescents with a lower feeling of guilt, may help to increase school satisfaction. Therefore, interventions targeting reducing feeling of guilt may be effective to increase school satisfaction through self-esteem in adolescents. Implications for future direction and limitations of the current research are also offered.

Keywords

• Guilt,School Satisfaction,Self-Esteem,Structural Equation Modelling,Adolescent

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