Predicting Adjustment with School Based on Personal Agency: The Mediating Role of Positive Adolescent Development

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 shiraz university

2 Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology

3 Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

4 Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

10.22099/jsli.2026.8546

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of positive youth development in the relationship between personal agency and school adjustment (including social adjustment, emotional adjustment, and academic adjustment). The research design was correlational. The participants of the study were 230 students (115 girls and 115 boys) of the secondary high school in Shiraz city, who were selected using multistage cluster random sampling method. The Human Agency Scale (Jääskelä et al., 2017), the Positive Youth Development Questionnaire (Geldhof et al., 2014), and the School Adjustment Inventory (Sinha & Singh, 1993) were used to measure the research variables. The data were analyzed by the structural equation modeling statistical method using AMOS software version 24. The results showed that the research model has a good fit. The findings indicated that personal agency has a positive and significant effect on positive youth development and emotional adjustment, and a negative and significant effect on social adjustment. This variable could not directly and significantly predict academic adjustment. Positive youth development showed a positive and significant effect on emotional and academic adjustment and was not able to significantly predict social adjustment. In addition, positive youth development has a mediating role in the relationship between personal agency and academic and emotional adjustment. Overall, the results of the present study, by confirming the research model, provide compelling evidence regarding the mediating role of positive youth development in the relationship between personal agency and dimensions of school adjustment (specifically academic and emotional adjustment) .

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Journal of Studies in Learning & Instruction
Volume 17, Issue 2
September 2025
Pages 230-211

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History

  • Receive Date: 12 April 2025
  • Revise Date: 14 August 2025
  • Accept Date: 25 August 2025
  • First Publish Date: 23 September 2025
  • Publish Date: 23 September 2025

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