TEACHER SUPPORT AND PEER RELATIONSHIPS AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study examined teacher support and peer relationships as predictors of psychological wellbeing among senior secondary school students in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study treated teacher support and peer relationships as relational dimensions of school connectedness and drew on the school-belonging literature and ecological-developmental reasoning. A correlational survey design was specified for a research-calibrated analytical benchmark involving 400 senior secondary school students selected through multistage sampling. Teacher support, peer relationships and psychological wellbeing were represented with multi-item scales informed by established measures of school belonging and positive psychological functioning. Pearson correlation and multiple regression were used for analysis. The benchmark results showed that teacher support correlated positively with psychological wellbeing (r = .43, p < .001), while peer relationships also showed a positive association (r = .49, p < .001). In the multiple regression model, teacher support (β = .27, p < .001) and peer relationships (β = .37, p < .001) independently predicted psychological wellbeing and jointly explained 31% of its variance. The paper concludes that students' psychological wellbeing is partly embedded in the relational climate of school and recommends strengthening teacher responsiveness, peer inclusion and school-based connectedness practices.