Perceived Teachers’ Acceptance,Parental Acceptance,Behavioral Control,School Conduct,and Psychological Adjustment Among School-Age Children in Kuwait

The goal of this research was to explore the relationship between Kuwaiti students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance and behavioral control and students’ conduct in school, and psychological adjustment. A sample of 205 middle school students in Kuwait was enrolled in the study. Results showed that both boys and girls perceived their parents and teachers to be fairly loving and moderately behaviorally controlling. Moreover, both boys and girls were reported by teachers to be generally well behaved in school, although boys tended to misbehave more than girls. Finally, both boys and girls were found to be psychologically well adjusted. Neither perceived teacher acceptance nor parental acceptance or behavioral control correlated significantly with girls’ school conduct. But both perceived teacher and fathers’ behavioral control tended marginally to be associated with boys’ school conduct. The psychological adjustment of both boys and girls, however, was correlated significantly with both perceived teacher and parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance. Simple regression analyses, however, showed that perceived teacher acceptance did not make an independent contribution to the psychological adjustment of either boys or girls, though both perceived maternal and paternal acceptance did.