The Structural Relationship between Citizenship academic Behaviors and Ethical climate school: The Mediating Role of positive youth development

This study aimed to investigate the structural relationship between school ethical climate and academic citizenship behaviors with the mediating role of positive youth development. The research adopted a correlational design by using the structural equation modeling to explore the relationship between variables. The statistical population consisted of first and second-grade high school students of the city of Shiraz, from which 671 high school students (293 boys and 378 girls) were selected using a multistage random cluster sampling method. They completed the School Ethical Climate Scale )Schulte et al., 2002), the Positive Youth Development Scale (Geldhof et al., 2014), and the Academic Citizenship Behaviors Scale (Goolparvar, 2011). Data were analyzed by using the structural equation modeling. According to the findings, school ethical climate and positive youth development had a direct and positive effect on academic citizenship behaviors. In addition, the school’s ethical climate had a direct and positive effect on positive youth development. The results of the bootstrap test showed that positive youth development plays a mediating role in the relationship between school ethical climate and academic citizenship behaviors. This means that school’s ethical climate predicts academic citizenship behaviors positively, through the mediating role of positive youth development. Accordingly, it can be claimed that the school’s ethical climate increases academic citizenship behaviors among students by promoting their positive youth development.