Self-Regulation as a Mediator Between Social Skills and School Attachment in Gifted Middle School Students

Abstract

School attachment encompasses students’ interrelated emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. Self-regulation involves setting goals and activating self-monitoring and self-reinforcement processes. Social skills refer to specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors essential for effective interpersonal interactions. In this study, we examined the mediating effects of social skills and perceived self-regulation on the school attachment levels of gifted students. We also investigated whether school attachment levels differed by gender and grade level. The sample consisted of 347 gifted middle school students (180 girls). We conducted a mediation analysis in Jamovi using 5,000 bootstrap samples. We used independent-samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance to analyze gender and grade-level differences in school attachment, respectively. We applied the Gabriel post hoc test to identify the source of significant differences between grade levels. We found no significant differences in school attachment levels based on gender. However, grade level significantly influenced school attachment, with 7th graders exhibiting higher attachment levels than 6th graders; other grade comparisons were not statistically significant. Furthermore, self-regulation skills mediated the relationship between social skills and school attachment among gifted students. This study contributes to the gifted education literature by highlighting the role of personal competencies specifically, social skills and self-regulation in shaping students’ connection to school. Our findings suggest that strengthening these individual skills may foster a greater sense of school belonging among gifted learners, offering practical implications for educators and program designers.