Abstract
This work investigated the contribution of the social support of the family, teachers and peers to the school engagement. Participants were 504 adolescents, with a mean age of 15.88 (SD = 0.88) enrolled in high school in public schools. The instruments were Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Brazilian Delaware Student Engagement Scale, Social Support Appraisals and Delaware School Climate Survey. Results from the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that teacher support contributed prominently to the explanation of variance in emotional and behavioral / cognitive engagement. Family support proved to be a predictor only for behavioral / cognitive engagement. Peer support showed explanatory capacity for both types of engagement, after being jointly considered the influence of support from family and teachers. We conclude that social support seems to influence cognitive / behavioral and emotional engagement differently. A more in-depth understanding of school engagement may favor the implementation of interventions that are better grounded in the school context.
Keywords:
Academic Performance; social support; adolescence