The Influence of Gender and Age of Adolescents on The Formation of Perception About School During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents experienced changes in schools, which led to stress, tension, anxiety, insecurity, depression, as a result of which they also started avoiding school, etc. The research conducted here aimed to examine adolescents' perceptions regarding school during the pandemic concerning the gender and age of the respondents. The research was conducted in secondary and primary schools in the Republic of Serbia on a sample of 744 students. A standardized questionnaire called the Revised School Rejection Scale was used (Kearney, C., & Wendy Silverman, W. 1993). For the processing of all collected data, the software package for statistical data processing IBM SPSS Statistics 21 was adopted. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used for the analysis. Based on the research, we were able to see the frequency with which the child experiences emotions and behaviors related to attending school, which are qualified in four dimensions: fear, socializing, avoiding, connecting with friends. The research results indicated that the gender and age of the respondents influenced the formation of perception about school during the pandemic. It is also important to emphasize that adolescents do not have a bad perception towards school.