The purposes of this study was to examine teachers' violence trends and the relations between teachers' violence and the quality of school life and self-esteem in adolescents. The relations between the quality of school life and self-esteem were also examined.
The study was studied with a sample of 369 2nd grade middle school students living in Seoul, using the teachers' violence questionnaire developed by the author hased on Straus(1979), the Quality of school life questionnaire(Epsteion & Mcpartland, 1976), and a self-perception profile(Harter, 1983).
The main results of the study were as follows.
First, over 70% of the adolescents were physically punished, and over 30% of adolescents were verbally punished. And mainly teachers punished their student using their fist.
Second, teachers' violence were significantly related to the quality of school life in adolescent boys. The more teachers' violence they experienced, the more negative reactions to teachers and the less commitment to classwork they have. But teachers' violence was not significantly associated with relations to friend.
Third, teachers' violence were significantly associated with Behavioral Conduct and Social Acceptance in self-esteem The more teachers' violence they experienced, the lower self-esteem on Behavioral Conduct they have. On the contrary, The more teachers' violence they experienced, the higher self-esteem on Social Acceptance they have. But the other factors in self-esteem were not significantly related with the teachers' violence.
Finally, the quality of school life was significantly associated with self-esteem The higher the quality of school life they experienced, the higher self-esteem they have.
The findings from the present study was significantly related to the quality of school life and self-esteem in adolescents, emphasize the important role of teacher in adolescents' healthy school life and development.