Perceived School Climate And School Adjustment For Middle School Students

Family and school are the two micro-ecological contexts of children's psychological development. Comparatively speaking, the role of school in the psychological development of children get little attention. School climate is the most important and sensitive index of school environmental features. From the view of Developmental-Ecological theory, Stage-Environment Fit theory and Social Cognitive theory, and in consideration of the dilemma of traditional research on school climate, this research puts forward the concept of"perceived school climate"and develops Perceived School Climate Inventory for Middle schoolers (PSCI-M). The PSCI-M adopts Likert 4-point scale, and measures the perceived school climate from five dimensions: teacher-student relationships, order and discipline, students interpersonal relationships, academic pressure and multiple development for middle school students.The author investigates the relationship between perceived school climate and school adjustment of 366 middle school students by using PSCI-M. The result shows: Firstly, it is reasonable to establish the concept of"perceived school climate". The inventory is reliable and valid, which is comparatively up to psychometrics criteria.Secondly, school climate perception of middle school students is comparatively positive in general, and it differs significantly in gender and grade.Thirdly, different dimensions of perceived school climate have relative significance to school adjustment.In the end, perceived school climate has influences on school adjustment by direct or indirect method.