User talk:Kennatojawaya

Self-efficacy and Social Support Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Date

Article: Life satisfaction trajectories of junior high school students in Poverty: Exploring the role of self-efficacy and social support by Fang-Hua Jhang. Summary Adolescence is a challenging period during human development. It is even more challenging for adolescents who come from families that are not financially stable. It exposes them to stressful situations in life that need to be solved. Proper handling of the problematic situations in adolescence is critical, especially for those in school. In most cases, students' academic performances usually are affected by the challenging times that they go through during the period of adolescence. They are likely to get stress caused by different challenges, and if that is not sorted, they can end up in depression which would ultimately ruin their lives in adulthood. Additionally, adolescents need to be supported by society so that they can be able to develop into responsible citizens in the future. The support required could be psychological support or finances to assist the adolescents to get a quality education. Furthermore, the article discusses the effects that self-efficacy has on the lives of adolescents. Many young people believe in themselves that they can solve most of the difficult situations they face in life. However, others have low self-efficacy and that may affect the way they deal with negative situations in life. The life satisfaction of adolescents is affected by different factors. Some of the factors include but not limited to; social support, self-efficacy, support from teachers, as well as the support from the family. Some students show low levels of life satisfaction while others show high levels of the same. The levels of life satisfaction depend on how adolescents are handled by different stakeholders, such as teachers and parents. In conclusion, the article revealed that family support and self-efficacy are the two critical factors that affect the well-being of young people in the initial stages of adolescent’s development. Analysis The contents of the article can be compared to biblical principles. The article talks about poverty, social support, adolescents, as well as self-efficacy. All these issues have, in one way or the other been discussed in the bible. The theological approach of what is expected for adolescents is similar to the contents of the article. When adolescents are given an opportunity to express their spirituality with the guidance of their teachers, parents, and others, they become responsible adults in the future (Apostolides, 2017). On the other hand, if adolescents are not well guided, they end up becoming irresponsible citizens and get involved in negative and harmful activities. According to Apostolides, (2017), adolescents learn by observing what the adults do and, therefore, if adults are not good role models the youths will equally become irresponsible people when they become adults. In that regard, the findings of the article are in agreement with the theological view of how adults should play a significant role in shaping the lives of adolescents and youths. Furthermore, both the article and the biblical teachings are similar about the importance of youths knowing and understanding their identity. According to Apostolides (2017), when the adolescents understand their identities, they get skills and become adequately equipped to challenge the world, change it, and make it a better place. Values and morals are principles that every adolescent is expected to acquire for them to live positive lives in the future. However, it is regrettable that some youths start being defiant of biblical teachings when they are still very young and, hence, in the future, their lives become full of challenges. Practical Application The findings of the article are useful to educators, students, as well as parents. The article demonstrates that students have different levels of self-efficacy. There are those students whose self-esteem is very low, while others have high self-esteem. Such information is relevant for both teachers or educators and parents. The teachers should take it as their responsibility to motivate the students with low esteem to work hard for better performances. A student with low esteem is unlikely to perform well because they believe they cannot score good grades. The parents have even a more significant responsibility to play. They need to be role models to their children so they can mould them to become well-behaved students. Like the article alluded, children primarily learn by observing and imitating their parents’ actions. Additionally, educators can apply the findings of the article to develop a curriculum in such a way that it is inclusive. Inclusivity, in this case, means it should be appropriate for both poor students as well as those who come from wealthy families. The article has shown that most students lack support in their education, and that contributes to poor performance. Poor students go through many challenges in their lives which contributes to them having low self-efficacy. With low self-efficacy, they are unable to be positive in life and ends up failing their exams and losing hope in life. In that regard, the educators or curriculum developers should consider the plight of poor students when developing the curriculum. Also, the government should come in and provide incentives for the needy students so that they can access quality education just like their wealthy counterparts.

References Apostolides, A. (2017). Adolescent spirituality with the support of adults. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 73(4). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i4.4332 Jhang, F. (2019). Life satisfaction trajectories of junior high school students in poverty: Exploring the role of self-efficacy and social support. Journal of Adolescence, 75, 85-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.07.011