Abstract

• The main aim of this study is to investigate the social emotional competence and school adjustment of adolescents. Descriptive research design and survey method was used in this study. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic information of the participants such as gender, grade, parents' education and job. The Social Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ, Zhou. M. & Ee. J, 2012) was used in measuring adolescents' social emotional competence. SECQ including 25 items was used and it consists of five competent: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management and responsible decision-making. This questionnaire consisting 25 items equally involved five items of each component. "Adjustment Inventory for school students (AISS)" constructed by A.K.P. Sinha and R.P. Singh (2004) was used in measuring adolescents' school adjustment. AISS consists of 60 items. This research was investigated participants of Grade-6 and Grade-8 students. A total of 600 students from public schools (300males and 300 females) was randomly selected from the townships in Mandalay District. The result of this study revealed that there was no significant difference in social emotional competence but there was significant difference school adjustment by gender and grade. Moreover, students were not significant in social emotional competence by father's education, father job and mother job. But, students were significant different in social emotional competence by mother education. Besides, students were no significant difference by parents' education and parents' job. The findings also revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between students' social emotional competence and school adjustment. Students' social emotional competence should be increased with the help of parents, teachers and students themselves so that they might perceive better adjustment in their school and achieve higher success in their life.