Journal of School and Educational Psychology

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The purpose of the present study is to investigate the psychometric properties of two integrative inventories of psychological well-being– the Brief Inventory of Thriving (BIT) and the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT)– that could be widely used among Turkish young adults. This study also aimed to examine whether students with severe psychological health symptoms reported higher levels of loneliness, lack of control, and negative feelings, and fewer positive domains of the CIT (e.g., support, belonging, positive feelings, and self-efficacy).  The participants of this study included 314 Turkish undergraduate students (76% female with an age range of 18–47 years [M = 22.83, SD = 4.09]) from a state university in Turkey. Confirmatory factor analyses showed good psychometric fit statistics of both the CIT and BIT, confirming the latent structure of inventories. Factor loadings of the CIT items were strong, with robust indicator reliabilities. With regard to the concurrent validity of the measures, the study results showed that the domains and the brief version of the measure had significant correlations with psychological health symptoms. Additionally, individuals with severe mental health symptoms reported fewer positive psychological domains of psychological well-being, whereas having higher negative domains of psychological well-being than those with mild symptoms. Specifically, Cohen's d effect sizes were large for some social resources and subjective well-being domains. Overall, these results provide evidence suggesting that both the CIT and BIT could be used to assess psychological well-being among Turkish young adults.

Staff morale is a concern for many educational institutions, especially given the detrimental impact of Covid-19 on the school community. Despite the knowledge and interest in staff morale systematically growing, little is known about the relationship between teachers’ morale and Psychological Capital (PsyCap). PsyCap is a construct comprising of four elements: (1) efficacy, (2) hope, (3) optimism, and (3) resilience. The current study aimed to address this gap by examining how well the components of PsyCap predicted employee morale, in a sample of 320 teachers most of whom were based in Ireland (76%), female (95%), aged 18-35 (63%) and working in primary school (87%). The Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Teacher Morale component of the School Organisational Health Questionnaire were used. Standard multiple regression showed that the model explained 20% of the variance in teachers’ morale with optimism demonstrating the strongest unique contribution, followed by hope and resilience. While staff morale was associated with higher levels of optimism and hope, it predicted lower levels of resilience. This finding may be due to the intricate nature of the PsyCap assessment rather than its individual components. Discussed are the implications of the current study that can inform the policy and practice of school leaders in Ireland and worldwide.

School adjustment of forcibly displaced immigrants is one of most the important outcomes of sociocultural adaptation in the host society. This paper examines the predictive power of forcibly displaced Syrian youths’ acculturation pathways and perceived discrimination on school adjustment. The sample consisted of 281 forcibly displaced Syrian youths in Turkey and age ranged from 13 to 16 years (M_age = 14.49, SD = 1.11). The participants completed measures of the acculturation process, perceived discrimination, school adjustment, and demographic variables. The results indicated that demographic characteristics had no significant relationship with school adjustment of forcibly displaced Syrian youths. Integration acculturation came into prominence by having higher mean scores compared to other pathways where they are more prone to integrate into the host society. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between the acculturation process, perceived discrimination, and school adjustment of Syrian youths. Forcibly displaced Syrian youths who followed the marginalization acculturation pathway and experienced more perceived discrimination significantly contributed to the variance in explaining school adjustment over and above the demographic variables. The results showed that perceived discrimination impedes school adjustment while the integration acculturation pathway can buffer perceived discrimination and improve better school adjustment of forcibly displaced Syrian youths.

Positive Behavioral Supports for the Classroom is edited by Brenda Kay Scheuermann and Judy Ann Hall. Scheuermann is a professor in the Special Education department of Texas State University. Hall is the other editor. She is also an educator. The book was published first in 2008, second in 2012, and third in 2016 by PEARSON. The book has 338 pages. The ISBNs of the book for different versions are; Loose Leaf Version ISBN 10: 0-13-380481-X, ISBN 13: 978-0-13-380481-2, E-text ISBN 10: 0-13-395883-3 ISBN 13: 978-0-13-395883-6.