School adjustment scale for students in specialized schools: development and initial validation

Background While existing studies have attached considerable importance to adolescents’ school adaptation, psychometrically robust assessment tools specifically designed for students in specialized correctional schools remain lacking. To address this research gap, the present study aimed to develop and validate a School Adaptation Questionnaire for students in specialized correctional schools and examine its psychometric properties. Methods Following a standard scale-development procedure, we generated initial items through a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and open-ended surveys. We recruited a pilot sample of 210 students for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis to revise and optimize the preliminary scale. We then administered the refined questionnaire to a validation sample of 270 students and conducted confirmatory factor analysis, along with reliability and validity tests, to systematically evaluate the scale’s psychometric quality. Results The results indicated that the final 21-item questionnaire consists of four factors, including Rule Adaptation, Academic Adaptation, Peer Relations, and School Attitude, which together explain 69.21% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated an adequate model fit, with χ²/df = 1.467, RMSEA = 0.045, NFI = 0.918, TLI = 0.968, and CFI = 0.972. The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.94, and the α values of the four subscales ranged from 0.81 to 0.92. Conclusion The School Adaptation Questionnaire for students in specialized correctional schools has excellent psychometric properties, with strong reliability and structural validity. This questionnaire provides a valid evaluation instrument for specialized correctional education research and practice.