The Influence of Sense of School Community on Korean Students’ Life Satisfaction and Comparison of Sense of Community for Students’ Gender and High School Specialties

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the sense of community of South Korean high school students as measured by a Korean version of the Sense of Community Index 2 (KSCI2) and examine the effect of two factors of the KSCI2, reinforcement of needs and influence, on students' life satisfaction as measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). A total of 375 Korean high school students provided usable data from three vocational high schools specializing in agriculture, electronics and engineering, and business and marketing, and one Meister high school specializing in automotive. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and path analysis with structural equation modeling (SEM), were performed to analyze data. Findings suggested that there were statistically significant differences in reinforcement of needs, influence, and life satisfaction, for the gender of students and school specialties. First, male students scored higher than female students on reinforcement of needs and influence. Next, male students were more satisfied with their lives than female students. For reinforcement of needs, students specializing in automotive scored higher than those specializing in business and marketing. For influence, students specializing in automotive scored higher than those specializing in all the other three specialties. Finally, both factors of reinforcement of needs and influence had positive effects on students' life satisfaction. Implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed.