Structural model of the relationship between school climate perception and externalizing behaviors with the mediating role of social-emotional competence

This study aimed to investigate the structural relationship between school climate perception and externalizing behaviors with the mediating role of social-emotional competence. The research design was descriptive-correlational. The Statistical population included all the Junior high school students in Urmia city in 2020-2021. The sample included 380 students that were selected through random cluster sampling method. The participants completed the Delaware School Climate Survey (Bear et al. 2011), Youth Self-report Scale (Achenbach & Rescorla, 1991), and social-emotional competence Scale (Zhou and Ee, 2012). After deleting the outliers, 374 questionnaires were analyzed by structural equation modeling using AMOS software version 24. The results indicated that Perception of school climate and social-emotional competence directly predicted externalized behaviors. School climate also had an indirect effect on externalizing behaviors through Social-emotional competence. This research includes implications for those in charge of education to take necessary and optimal measures to modify and reduce externalized behaviors of students.