Author(s): Sarita Sanwal and Dr. Shridhar Joshi

Abstract:
The term adolescence comes from the Latin word adolescere, meaning “to grow” or ‘to grow to maturity’. Teenage is a period of personal development during which a young person must establish a sense of individual identity and feeling of self-worth. Two environment, home and school share an influential space in child’s life. The school is considered a more conducive place for the cultivation of certain non-academic goals that are more needed in the present day adjustment to the environment. Life is a continuous process of adjustment (Tallent, 1978). Psychology is defined as the science of human behavior and behavior can be better understood if we know the process of adjustment. The present study aims to investigate the School Adjustment of 810 teenagers in the age group of 13 to 16 years in high school setting of Mehsana District of Gujarat State. Multistage random sampling procedure was followed to collect the data. A representative sample of 810 respondents (Inclusive 405 boys and 405 girls) perusing in classes IX and X in high school setting of Mehsana District were randomly selected for the study. The sample was selected from two different classes on availability basis. One standardized High School Adjustment Inventory (HSAI) developed by A.K Singh and A. Sen Gupta was used for collecting data of respondents. Result depicts that 89.51 per cent respondents belonged to medium level of high school adjustment among over all respondents. It means these respondents are adjusting well have a sense of belonging to the school-they feel comfortable, secure and relaxed rather than anxious, fearful or upset. They listen to and follow instructions, interact well with others, share and take turns, cope with normal day-to-day conflicts and are able to manage their feelings and emotions appropriately. They are interested in learning and are motivated to take part in school activities. Further, it can be inferred from data regarding high school adjustment the girl respondents perceived highest score than boy respondents. Result revealed that girls are well adjusted with their counterparts. Significant association was found between independent and dependent variable. Results show that Sex, Ordinal Position, Family Types, Family Size, Number of Sibling, Family Income and Mass Media Exposure of the respondents’ affect high school adjustment among all respondents.