Relationship Between School Environment and Psychological Health Among Adolescents

The Moderating Role of Coping Strategy

Abstract

The present study examined whether coping strategy moderates the relationship between school environment and psychological health of adolescents. Two hundred and sixty-two (262) adolescents from four secondary schools in Abia state, Nigeria were randomly selected for the study. They consisted of 156 (59.5%) females and 106 (40.5%) males. Their ages ranged from 14 to 16 years with mean age of 15 years and standard deviation of 0.77. School Environmental Scale (SES), Problem-Focused Coping Scale (PFCS) and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) were employed for the collection of data. The study utilized multiple regression analysis and the result showed that school environment significantly predicted psychological health among adolescents. However, coping strategies did not significantly predict the adolescent’s psychological health. The result further revealed that problem-focused coping strategy did not significantly moderate the relationship between school environment and psychological health among secondary school adolescents. It was recommended that students be exposed to conducive school climate for good psychological health.