Measuring dimensions of social climate among South African higher education students |
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| Authors: | Chris Myburgh Marie Poggenpoel Marie Hastings-Tolsma |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa;2. Department of Nursing Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa;3. Department of Nursing Science, Baylor University, Baylor, United States of America |
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| Abstract: | We investigated the structure of social climate among university students to characterise the relative importance of personal and interpersonal factors. Participants were 266 students from a school of education of a large South African university (females = 66.5%; black = 53.0%, white = 25.9%; coloured = 7.5%, Asian/Indian = 6.0%; mean age = 28.71 years, SD = 10.51 years). The students completed the Experience of Social Climate Questionnaire (ESCQ). Exploratory principal component factor analysis of the data yielded a three component structure of social climate comprising of (i) Constructive interpersonal relationships, (ii) Unloving towards self, and (iii) Aggression perceptions of self. Relationships and aggression appear to define social climate in a higher education student population. |
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| Keywords: | aggression higher education intra- and interpersonal relationships social climate research |
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