Academic Coping, Friendship Quality, and Student Engagement Associated with Student Quality of School Life: A Partial Least Square Analysis

This study aims to examine an untested research model that explains the direct- and indirect influences of Academic Coping, Friendship Quality, and Student Engagement on Student Quality of School Life. This study employed the quantitative-based cross-sectional survey method. The sample consisted of 2400 Malaysian secondary Form Four students chosen equally from 50 schools using Multistage Stratified Cluster Sampling procedure. Self-reported questionnaire was administered. The data was analyzed with Partial Least Square approach using SmartPLS 2.0. Findings showed that Academic Coping, Student Engagement, and Friendship Quality significantly explained about 46 % of variance in Student Quality of School Life. Student Engagement also contributed approximately 44 % of variance in mediating the relationship between Academic Coping and Student Quality of School Life; and approximately 67 % of variance between Friendship Quality and Student Quality of School Life. Findings indicated the predictability of the model in terms of predictive relevance and global goodness of fit. Limitations and suggestions for future studies are discussed.