Maladaptive social behaviour of students in secondary vocational education

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was

twofold: Firstly to create a reliable and valid new instrument to

measure maladaptive social behaviour (MSB) of students in secondary

vocational education, and secondly to assess which school context variables could predict MSB at school. Three data-waves were conducted between December 2001 and July 2003. At the first data-wave 1800, at the second 931, and at the third 642 students participated from several schools, several departments, and several courses, spread over the Netherlands. Using several pilot-studies a new instrument was developed: The Questionnaire for Maladaptive Social Behaviour (QMSB). It consists of 49 items referring to five categories of behaviour: MSB toward Schoolwork and Rules, Delinquent Behaviour, Unfriendly Behaviour, Withdrawn Behaviour and Impolite Behaviour. Three studies were conducted to explore external validity of the instrument. Boys reported more MSB for all categories than girls. When controlled for gender, no differences in MSB were found between students with different ethnic origin, course level, or educational level of parents. School context variables predicted a small amount of variance of MSB. For Boys, feeling alienated from school appeared the most important predictor for their MSB at school; it predicted each type of MSB. For girls, the perception of a competitive school environment predicted their MSB best.