A relação entre o engajamento escolar e as forças de caráter

Abstract

The present study aimed to verify the pattern of linear relationship between the character strengths and school engagement in adolescents. A non-probabilistic convenience sample consisted of 233 elementary and middle school students, with a mean age of 15.10 years (SD = 1.46), being 51.1% of the sex and 53.2% of public schools in the city of João Pessoa / PB. These answered the Character Strengths Scale, the School Engagement Scale, and the Sociodemographic Questionnaire. SPSS statistical software was used to perform Pearson correlation analyzes, followed by t-test analyzes. The results showed that the 24 forces showed positive and significant correlation with school engagement (dedication, vigor, absorption and general factor), especially the strengths of gratitude, curiosity and modesty for having higher scores. The t-test analyzes indicated that the nature of the educational institution predicts school engagement, unlike what happened with sex. In particular, the results showed that students in public educational institutions are more engaged in school than individuals. When sex, there was no statistically significant difference between boys and girls in relation to school engagement. In summary, the importance of the forces of character in the development of school engagement, especially in the valorization of the positive aspects of the human being, in the promotion of a more pleasant learning and in the prevention of academic and social problems, is noticed.