Susceptibility to Persuasion and Its Relationship with Academic Adjustment among Secondary School Students in Ghardaïa City

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the nature of the relationship between susceptibility to persuasion and academic adjustment among secondary school students in the city of Ghardaïa. The descriptive approach was adopted, as it is most suitable for studying psychological and social phenomena in their real-life context. The study sample consisted of 107 second-year secondary students selected from the Martyr Moulay Ammar Secondary School in Metlili. To collect data, the researcher used Abu Rayah’s (2006) Susceptibility to Persuasion Scale and the Academic Adjustment Scale developed by Youngman and adapted to the Arab context by Al-Dariny (1990). After applying the tools and analyzing the data statistically, the results showed that the students had a moderate level of susceptibility to persuasion, as well as a moderate level of academic adjustment. Furthermore, the results indicated a negative relationship between susceptibility to persuasion and academic adjustment, but this correlation was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that students with higher susceptibility to external influences may face challenges in adapting to academic demands, which highlights the need for educational and psychological interventions aimed at promoting critical thinking and academic autonomy. The importance of this study lies in its contribution to expanding the understanding of a relatively underexplored psychological and social variable in Arab educational contexts, and in providing data that may assist professionals in developing appropriate intervention strategies.