International Journal of Educational Research Review

The Effect of Self-Acceptance and Social Adjustment on Senior High

School Students’ Self-Concept
Alif Mualifah1, Muya Barida2, Lady Farhana3

AR TI CL E IN FO AB STR A CT
Article History: The present study was aimed at finding out the effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on
Received 09.05.2019 student’s self-concept. To achieve the research objectives, researchers conducted a survey. This
Received in revised form surveys study employed correlational design, out of 248 students, 149 respondents were selected
07.09.2019 using quota sampling. Self-acceptance scale, social adjustment scale, and self-concept scale were
Accepted
employed as the instrument of the study. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data.
Available online 01.11.2019
Following the analysis result, the significance level was 0.000 or less than 0.05. It could be concluded
that self-acceptance and social support significantly affect student’s self-concept. Based on this
conclusion, students need to improve their self-acceptance, socisl adjusment, and possitive self-
concept.

© IJERE. All rights reserved

Keywords:1
Self-acceptance, Social adjustment, Self-concept

INTRODUCTION
Self-concept refers to an individual’s view of his various self-aspects. Hurlock (2013) stated that self-
concept is an individual’s depiction regarding himself, a combination of physical and psychological belief,
aspirational emotional, and achievement. Self-concept is self-assumptions or scheme regarding personal
quality comprising physical appearance (e.g., tall, short, weight, beautiful), psychological trait (e.g shy, calm,
anxiety, anger), and is sometimes associated with main motive and purpose. Therefore, it is defined as a set of
complex, varied information an individual holds about himself. Baron and Byrne (2005) note that self-concept
refers to a set of organized self-belief and perception. Self-concept consists of an individual’s depiction and
assessment on himself. Every individual possesses self-ability, self-understanding, ability to direct life and to
handle problems being faced (Rogers in Sukardi and Ketut, 2000).
An individual's self-concept is reflected by his behavior. Individual with positive self-concept will (a)
possess self-knowledge, depicting himself according to his self-understanding; (b) possesses hope, he holds
something longed for, aspiration, ideal future-self; and (c) possesses self-judgment, he judges himself and
holds self-ideal that forms self-esteem (Acocella in Desmita, 2012).
It is in agreement with Brooks and Emmert (in Rakhmat, 2001) who state that an individual with positive
self-concept believe in his ability, he believes that he is equal standing to others, he accepts compliment
without feeling of guilty. He realizes that everyone has feeling, desire, and behavior that is not always in line
with society; he is also capable of doing self-improvement due to his ability to realize his unfavorable aspects
of personality and makes attempts to change it. Otherwise, individual with negative self-concept is sensitive
towards criticism, responsive towards compliment, not capable of expressing regard to others, feel disliked
by others and is pessimistic toward competition as expressed by reluctance to compete with others to obtain
achievement. Based on two statements above, it is clear that positive self-concept is pivotal for every individual
since it may affect life success or failure.
Desmita (2012) states that an individual with more positive self-concept tends to be easier to achieve
success in his life. Positive self-concept allows an individual to be optimistic, be courageous to try new things,
be dare to fail or succeed, self-confident, enthusiast, having a life purpose, and having a positive attitude and
behavior.
An individual requires self-acceptance in order to gain self-understanding and to direct oneself in
accordance with the problems. For instance, a Senior high school (SMA) student who comes from a broken-

1
alif_muarifah@yahoo.co.id,orcid.org/0000-0002-5710-6274, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan
2
muya.barida@bk.uad.ac.id, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2986-5177, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan

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 Mualifah,A., Barida,M. & Farhana,L. (2019). The effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on senior high school student ’s self-concept. International Journal of Educational
Research Review,Special Issue,719-724.

home family may possess negative self-concept such as a feeling of worthlessness, shy, and disrespected when
he fails to accept his condition. So important, self-acceptance is also one of the values of someone who becomes
a role model (Nithyanantham, Paulmony, & Hasan, 2018). Individuals who are unable to accept themselves
can damage their self-concept and their behavior becomes problematic (Karagoz, 2016; Wiryosutomo,
Hanum, & Partini, 2019).
Self-acceptance is a realistic depiction between his condition and expectation, accepting self-limit without
feeling guilty (Hurlock, 2013). Ryff (1989) states that self-acceptance is a condition where an individual with
his positive attitude, admits and accepts various self-aspects, including the good and bad, and feels positive
with his life. Furthermore, Sartain (Andromeda, 2006) defines self-acceptance as self-awareness of accepting
and understanding himself as he is. Individual who accepts himself has gone through a process taking himself
to the self-knowledge and understanding.
Acceptance is also defined as receiving something as it is and making peace with something he has
accepted. Self-acceptance is the crucial aspect of obtaining self-regard and self-satisfaction (Robbins, 2007).
This is in agreement with Prihadhi (2004), who states that self-acceptance means to submit and be honest with
the condition, both with weaknesses or strength.
An individual with good self-acceptance holds realistic hope, standards, and self-knowledge, the ability
to estimate his self-limit, realizing his self-asset, and realizing weaknesses without self-blaming (Jersild, 1978).
According to Osborne (1992), an individual with good self-acceptance refers to those who are capable of
controlling emotion, thinking positively and realistically, understanding strength and weaknesses, adjusting
himself, being optimistic in life, and not expecting other’s sympathy.
To conclude, an individual who has self-acceptance needs a good social-adjustment. For instance, if an
SMA student can accept that he is not as smart as his classmates, he also needs to have the ability to interact
and to communicate with his friends so that he does not possess negative self-concept.
Social adjustment is an individual’s success in adjusting himself to other people in general and his group,
in particular. Individuals with good self-adjustment learn various social skills such as diplomatic relationship
establishment with others, either friends or strangers so that they found themselves treated well by others
(Hurlock, 2013). Schneiders (2008) notes that social adjustment is an ability to have an effective and healthy
reaction toward a social situation, reality, and relation so that an individual is capable of satisfying social life
demand with acceptable and satisfactory manner.
Furthermore, social adjustment, according to Welsh and Bierman (2006), refers to the ability to develop
and to maintain a good and satisfactory relation to avoiding others’ negative stress or egocentrism. Eysenk (in
Wardani and Apollo, 2010) states that social adjustment is a learning process, meaning that it is a process to
understand and to attempt to do what an individual or his environment wants to do.
According to Sunarto and Hartono (2006), self-adjustment covers (a) adaptation, referring to ability to
maintain his existence and to obtain physical or psychological well-being as well as to establish relationships
that meet social demand; (b) Conformity, meaning an ability to adjust to a standard or a principle; (c) conflict
control, it refers to ability to effectively create plan and to organize response to overcome conflicts, difficulties,
and stress; and (d) emotional control, it is a positive emotional response to a situation.
Individual with good social adjustment will be able to and be willing to accept responsibility that fits to
his age, to participate in an activity, accept responsibility regarding to his role, to have solution-focused
problem solving, to overcome obstacles of happiness, to make decision without conflict, believe in his choice
until it is proven wrong, and to gain satisfaction from real achievement rather than imaginary ones. Besides,
an individual will learn from failure and not try to look for excuse, not exaggerating success, and be able to
put himself when receiving duty, refuse situation endangering his interest, accept advantageous situation,
show anger when his right is violated, show loves, compromise difficulties, goal-focused, and accept that life
is a struggle (Lawton in Hurlock, 2013).
In agreement with Lawton, Schneiders (2008) states that an individual with good self-adjustment will
realize and respect other’s right. Besides, they possess the ability to establish a relationship with others;

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 Mualifah,A., Barida,M. & Farhana,L. (2019). The effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on senior high school student ’s self-concept. International Journal of Educational
Research Review,Special Issue,719-724.

participate in social activity, possess interest and sympathy on other’s well-being, help others, and respect
values as well as integrate with law, tradition and community value.
Situation of the Problem
Based on the description above, it could be concluded that there is an association between self-concept,
self-acceptance, and social adjustment.
Aim of the Study
The present study intends to find out the effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on Senior High
School student’s self-concept.

METHOD
Attempts to answer the question of the study was made through a correlational survey study. The
respondent of the study was selected from a population of senior high school students using a quota sampling
technique. The respondent was selected in a proportional stratified form, yet was not selected randomly. Out
of 248 students, 149 students were selected as the respondent of the study. The respondents of this study were
11th grade high school students in Yogyakarta, which consisted of male and female students from the Javanese
tribe.
Material
This study employed a psychological scale using method of summated ratings that transforms ordinal
response choice into interval-scaled quantity (Azwar, 2013). There were three psychological scales, namely
self-acceptance scale (50 items), social adjustment scale (48 items), and self-concept scale (60 items). Example
self-acceptance items: Have realistic expectations. Example social-adjusment items: Recognize and respect the
rights of others. Example self-concept items: Feel confident in their abilities.
Self-acceptance scale uncover individual’s depiction on 1) having realistic hope, 2) having self-standards
and self-knowledge, 3) knowing his limit, 4) realizing his self-asset, and 5) realizing weaknesses without self-
blaming. Self-adjustment scale covers individual’s depiction on 1) realizing and respecting other’s right, 2)
possessing ability to establish relationships with others, 3) participating in social activity, 4) possessing interest
and sympathy on other's well-being, 5) help others, and 6) respecting values and integrating with law,
tradition, and community values. While self-concept scale reveal individual’s ability on 1) belief in his own
ability, 2) future hope, 3) optimism, 4) eagerness to try new things, 5) self-confidence, 6) life purpose, 7)
positive attitude and thinking, 8) accepting compliment without guilty, 9) realizing that every individual
possesses feeling, desire, and behavior that is not always agreed by community, and 10) ability to improve.
Data Analyses
In order to find out the effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on self-concept, the data gained
from the psychological scales were analyzed using multiple linear regression. It was employed because this
study implements a statistical procedure to examine a combination of the relationship between independent
variables and the dependent variable (Cresswell, 2015). In the present study, self-acceptance and social
adjustment emerged as the independent variables, while self-concept emerged as the dependent variable.

FINDINGS
The result of the calculation is shown by the tables below.
Table 1. Model Summary
Model Summary
Model R R Adjusted Std. Error of
Square R Square the Estimate

1 ,828a ,686 ,670 ,15213

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 Mualifah,A., Barida,M. & Farhana,L. (2019). The effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on senior high school student ’s self-concept. International Journal of Educational
Research Review,Special Issue,719-724.

a. Predictors: (Constant), penerimaandiri,

penyesuaiansosial

Table 1 shows that the R value was 0.828. It could be concluded that self-acceptance and social adjustment
affect self-concept by 82.8%.

Table 2. Simultaneous Calculation

ANOVAa
Model Sum of df Mean F Sig.
Squares Square
1 Regression 1,972 2 ,986 42,614 ,000b

Residual ,903 39 ,023

Total 2,875 41
a. Dependent Variable: konsepdiri
b. Predictors: (Constant), penerimaandiri, penyesuaiansosial

Table 2 shows that the significance value was 0.000 (<0.05). It could be concluded that simultaneously,
self-acceptance and social adjustment significantly affect student’s self-concept.
Table 3. Partial Calculation result
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients

B Std. Beta
Error
1 (Constant) ,167 ,333 ,502 ,619
socialadjus ,260 ,100 ,302 2,603 ,013
ment
Self- ,699 ,134 ,604 5,208 ,000
acceptance
a. Dependent Variable: self-concept

Table 3 shows significance level of each independent variable on dependent variable. It was found that
the significance value of social adjustment and self-acceptance was 0.013 (<0.05) and 0.00 (<0.05), respectively.

RESULT, DISCUSSION, AND SUGGESTIONS

The present study examines effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on Senior High School
student’s self-concept. Findings of the study indicates that self-adjustment significantly affect self-concept,
and self-acceptance significantly affects self-concept. The result of the study exhibited an association between
self-acceptance, social adjustment, and self-concept. Good self-acceptance and social adjustment affect SMA
student’s self-concept. Hurlock (2013) states that individual with good self-acceptance shows that they have
self-confidence and self-esteem. Accordingly, they hold the ability to accept and sort out criticism for self-
improvement; they can perform realistic self-development and optimize their potential. Individuals with good
self-acceptance possess life satisfaction. It makes them avoid to pretend like other people; they feel safe to put
interest and empathy to other people.

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 Mualifah,A., Barida,M. & Farhana,L. (2019). The effect of self-acceptance and social adjustment on senior high school student ’s self-concept. International Journal of Educational
Research Review,Special Issue,719-724.

According to Gea, Wulandari, and Babari (2005), Individuals with positive self-acceptance is happy about
himself, feels more healthy and more encouraged, and having self-esteem, and accept all of his strength and
weaknesses. Besides, they are able to perform as good as other individuals due to their self-confidence, and
are able to build a positive attitude toward themselves, and accept others.
Based on Hurlock, Gea, Wulandari, and Babari, it could be concluded that when a student has self-
acceptance, they are encouraged to interact with others, and possess positive self-concept. Self-concept is a
pivotal aspect for students, particularly in their self-actualization process. Adolescent students experience
rapid physical and psychological changes; accordingly, not all student can accept their weaknesses and
strength. A realistic acceptance and understanding of self-ability make a student, who is in transitional stage,
can exhibit an expected performance (Gunarsa and Gunarsa, 2008). Problems emerge when students lack self-
acceptance. Students who deny themselves will not be able to do self-adjustment and feel happy, and feel
isolated (Papalia, Old, and Feldman, 2008).
Social adjustment is one of the factors of self-acceptance. Social adjustment is an individual’s capability
in adjusting himself to other people in general and to his group, in particular. Social adjustment usually comes
along with other’s acceptance. Students with self-acceptance will find themselves safe and comfortable to
accept others, to concern with others, and to put empathy or sympathy to others. Thus, students with self-
acceptance will possess better social adjustment than those who tend to be self-oriented. Such a student is
capable of coping with his emotional state without bothering others, and is tolerant and possess the impulse
to help others.
A study shows that an individual who tends to be able to control his daily life expresses positive self-
concept in the present and future, and view himself academically efficient (Sagone & De Caroli, 2014). Another
study reveals that self-assessment is associated with global competence since it shows subjective feeling to act
and perform to gain success (Zlatkovic, Stojiljkovic, Djigic, & Todorovic, 2012). In other words, there is an
association between self-acceptance and social adjustment and positive self-concept. Identity commitment as
a part of self-acceptance emerges as a pivotal variable for adolescent’s emotional and social adjustment
(Pelleronea, Spinelloa, Sidoti, & Micciche, 2015).
Social adjustment is part of social behavior. It is in line with students’ personal and social need as
monodualis. Social adjustment involves the process of socialization and social interaction (Ryan & Shin, 2005).
Students should possess good social skill to be accepted in their group. This social skill plays an essential role
in the main phase of social building, allowing proper social adjustment (Zetergreen, Vangby, & Bergman,
2006). In order to improve self-acceptance, an individual needs life skill training to improve their social
adjustment skill (Rahmati, Adibrad, Tahmasian, & Sedghpour, 2010).
Based on the result of the study, it could be concluded that self-acceptance and social adjustment
significantly affect student's self-concept. A student needs these three skills. Accordingly, a student needs to
be provided with life skill training to manage his self-acceptance, to control his self-adjustment skill to the
social environment, so that he possesses positive and healthy self-concept. This study only takes data on self-
acceptance, social adjusment, and self-concept from respondents of students in high school so that it still needs
further development in the age of kindergarten, elementary school, and college, as well as adults.
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