Tendency toward over-adaptation: School adjustment and stress responses

Abstract

Over-adaptation refers to behavior that is overly adapted or over-achieved. Over-adaptation is thought to be a cause of maladaptation. But little practical research on over-adaptation has been done. The aims of the present study were (1) to organize the concept of over-adaptation theoretically and analyze its construction, and (2) to investigate how over-adaptation relates to school adjustment and stress responses among junior high school students. Junior high school students (N = 650) completed a questionnaire. The results suggested that the tendency toward over-adaptation was composed of 2 characteristics: internal and external. The internal aspect is constructed by self-inhibitive personality traits, and the external, by other-directed behavioral tendencies. The results also showed that the internal aspect was related negatively to school adjustment but positively to stress responses, whereas the external aspect was related positively to both school adjustment and stress responses. These results suggest that there may be some stress behind school adjustment maintained by the external aspect of over-adaptation. The possibility that these stresses might predict future maladaptation was discussed.