Differential types of school-related social support: Effects on Chinese students’ school satisfaction

This study aims to investigate the school satisfaction of Hong Kong early adolescents and their social support systems. To understand the multifaceted of social support in the school context, this study examined differential types (i.e. emotional, informational, appraisal and instrumental) of parent support, teacher support and classmate support on early adolescents’ school satisfaction, with self-efficacy and hope being the mediators. Survey data was collected from 582 Primary 4 to Secondary 3 students in Hong Kong. Among secondary school students, results of multiple regression analyses showed that teacher emotional support, teacher informational support and classmate informational support significantly predicted their school satisfaction. Among primary school students, parent appraisal support, teacher emotional support and teacher informational support had significant direct effects on their school satisfaction. Self-efficacy mediated the predictive effects of parent emotional support on secondary students’ school satisfaction, and those of classmate appraisal support on primary students’ school satisfaction. Hope mediated the predictive effects of classmate emotional support on primary students’ school satisfaction. Implications for school guidance and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2019 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology.