Psychosocial factors that influence peer interaction among francophone adolescent learners in the selected high schools in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Immigrant adolescent learners are at risk for loneliness, isolation, rejection, and interpersonal distress from being perceived as outsiders or not belonging to the groups. This may be explained by host country or setting discriminating against them and also the immigrant adolescents' initial tentative engagement of host setting others. This study aimed to determine the relationship between psychosocial factors (psychological factors: emotional regulation, aggressiveness, sympathy, empathy; social support; and cultural differences), and peer interactions through demographic details (gender, age, and grade level) among francophone adolescent learners in the selected high schools in the Western Cape. It further purposed to determine the positive and negative factors that can affect their peer interactions at high schools. This study established the feasibility of recruitment procedures and developed a new model instrument of psychometric properties to measure the psychosocial factors scale and peer interaction scale for francophone adolescent learners in the selected high schools in the Western Cape Province.