The Development of School Satisfaction in Chinese Early Adolescents: The Contributions of Peer Liking and Academic Performance

Research in Western countries has shown a general declining trend of school satisfaction over time among adolescents, yet it remains unclear how social and school factors predict the developmental pattern. Moreover, relative to their Western counterparts, adolescents in China tend to report lower levels of school satisfaction, but little is known about how it develops and the predictors of the development. To fill the gaps, this four-wave longitudinal study explored the developmental patterns of school satisfaction and the contributions of peer liking and academic performance. Six hundred and eighty-nine Chinese adolescents (M-age = 11.39, SDage = 0.53 at Time 1; 53.7% girls) participated in this study from Grade 6 to Grade 9 in 2017 to 2020. School satisfaction was measured each academic year using self-reports. Peer liking was assessed by classroom-based sociometric nominations, and information on academic performance was collected through school records in Grade 6. The conditional growth curve model results showed that peer liking and academic performance positively predicted the intercept of school satisfaction. School satisfaction decreased over time among students with low initial academic achievement, but increased in an exponential manner among students with high initial academic achievement. The results indicated that peer relationships and academic performance might play a role in affecting the level and the development of school satisfaction in the Chinese context.