Date

8-9-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Maryna Svirska-Otero

Keywords

Family functionality, social-emotional learning, middle school students, cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, SEL skills

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative, predictive correlational study was to determine if there was a predictive relationship between family functionality, based on the linear combination of expressiveness, cohesion, conflict, and social-emotional learning skills for middle school students. The findings of this study provided data to better understand the extent to which home life impacts the ability of middle school students to apply social-emotional skills at school and can provide educators with data to use as a baseline in understanding and evaluating the current levels of a child’s social-emotional learning skills. The research observed 80 middle school students, Grades 6-8, who were enrolled in a public or private school in the state of Texas. Data was collected utilizing the Brief Family Relationship Scale and the Social-Emotional Learning Scale. Survey results were collected on a computer via Google Forms. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the data and to draw conclusions. The researcher rejected the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where F(3, 76) = 15.86, p = <.001 indicating a significant relationship between the predictor and criterion variables. Results of the study indicated that family functionality could be a key predictor of middle school students’ social-emotional learning skills at school. The research suggests that schools encourage positive cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict management in the home. It is recommended that future studies could observe more diverse cultural groups, compare results between private versus public school settings, as well as differentiate results between genders and age groups.

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