Perceived Teacher Support and Self-Esteem as Mediators of the Relationship Between Peer Relationship and School Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

To explore the influence of middle school students' peer relationship, perceived teacher support and self-esteem on school life satisfaction. A total of 626 middle school students in Xinjiang were selected to complete the questionnaire of peer relationship questionnaire, perceived teacher support behavior questionnaire, self-esteem scale and school life satisfaction questionnaire. The results showed that:a) Peer relationship, self-esteem, perceived teacher support and school life satisfaction were significantly positively related to each other.b)Step-wise regression analysis for variables predicting students’ school life satisfaction suggested that perceived teacher support, self-esteem and peer relationship were the outstanding influencing factors of school life satisfaction in the third step, predicting 16% of it. c)Based on the ecological systems theory, self-esteem and perceived teachers’ support were the moderating effect between peer relationship and school life satisfaction. The results of the present study will have a practical significance to better the school life satisfaction of middle school students.

Keywords: peer relationship,self-esteem,perceived teacher support, school life satisfaction,Xinjiang