A comparative study of levels of social-emotional adjustment in second grade primary school students with and without diagnoses of learning difficulties

This study aims to compare the levels of social-emotional adjustment of second year primary school students who have been diagnosed with learning difficulties with students with no such diagnosis. The research method used was the survey model.A student information form was used to determine the students' sex, date of birth, number of siblings, position among siblings, parents' education level, receipt of pre-school education, age (in months) when starting school, and academic success, and the Marmara Social Emotional Adjustment Scale (MASDU) was used to determine the students' social-emotional adjustment levels. The research was carried out among a total of 203 second-year primary school students in Istanbul's Ümraniye district, 43 of whom have been diagnosed with learning difficulties and 160 of whom have no diagnosis of learning difficulties. The study found that, in all sub-sections of the social-emotional scale, points were higher among students not diagnosed with learning difficulties than among those with a diagnosis of learning difficulties. When comparing students' social-emotional adjustment according to diagnosis together with all other characteristics, it was found that the diagnosis factor was influential on all levels. Key Words: Social-Emotional Adjustment, Learning Difficulties