Use of Two-Steps Cluster Analysis to Understand How Emotions Affects Night Shift Teenagers’ Students

Abstract

Aims: To understand the emotions experienced by teenagers studying in the night shift at Massaca Secondary School and their impact on academic performance. Methodology: A semi-structured questionnaire was given to 116 subjects, 113-night shift students aged 14 to 19, and three of their teachers. Data was coded and analysed in SPSS 25 and Excel. Exploratory and descriptive statistics, as well as clustering analysis were performed. Results: Most of the respondents were unemployed (85%). The period that they had been enrolled in night shift ranged from 1 to 3 years. Most of students (46%), reported having experienced negative emotions, fear and sadness, while (31.85%) reported positive emotions, such as happiness, and the rest (22.14%) reported none emotions. Motives behind enrolling in night shift included lack of vacancies, as well as working during the day. The rate of academic failure was highest for students in grade 8. The Two-step clustering model detected four groups of respondents: The first consisting of students under the age of 17, in their first year of night shift enrolment, who reported experiencing no more than one emotion. The second group is made up of older students, who have studied two or more years in night shift, experiencing more than one emotion. In the third and fourth clusters, the average age was 17 years old. The majority of the third group have studied during night shift for less than two years and experienced one emotion or none. In fourth group, most students have been enrolled for two or more years and reported experiencing two or more emotions. Conclusion: Lack of vacancies and socio-economic conditions, force teenagers to enrol in the night shift. Negative emotions experienced by night shift teenagers’ students were amongst the factors influencing low academic achievement. The findings from this research can be further investigated to improve the emotional experiences of night school students.