Investigating Emotion Regulation, School Connectedness, and Perceived Social Support in Relation to Retaliatory Attitudes in Junior High School Students

This study investigated the levels of emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), school connectedness, perceived social support, and retaliatory attitudes among junior high school students, as well as the relationships among these psychosocial variables. Utilizing a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design, data were collected using standardized assessment instruments and analyzed through descriptive statistics and pearson product-moment correlation. Findings revealed that students possessed high capacities for cognitive reappraisal (M = 4.8, SD = 1.01) and expressive suppression (M = 4.7, SD = 1.28), alongside moderate perceived social support (M = 4.7, SD = 1.21). However, a critical 53.1% of respondents reported a low sense of school connectedness (M = 3.3, SD = 0.63). While retaliatory attitudes averaged at a neutral baseline (M = 3.0, SD = 0.94), the sample demonstrated an exact 50–50 split between forgiving and revenge-oriented tendencies. Bivariate analysis indicated significant positive inter-correlations among emotion regulation, perceived social support, and school connectedness (p < .001), but weak, statistically non-significant relationships between these psychosocial factors and retaliatory attitudes (p > .05), leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis. The study concludes that emotion regulation, school connectedness, and perceived social support do not directly suppress retaliatory attitudes. Also emotion regulation and perceived social support do not guarantee school connectedness. Consequently, school administrators and guidance counselors should implement targeted restorative justice programs and structured inclusion initiatives to directly address retaliatory attitudes and enhance students’ school connectedness.