Students' Perceptions of School Connectedness at a Freshman Academy (original) (raw)
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Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness across the middle school years. Three yearly waves of data were collected from 296 students beginning in the sixth grade. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that school connectedness declined across time. Initial levels of adjustment problems at school entry were concurrently associated with lower levels of connectedness. Initial levels of externalizing problems did not account for rate of decline, but elevated levels of externalizing problems across the middle school years were associated with lower concurrent levels of connectedness. Surprisingly, initial levels of depressive symptoms predicted a slower rate of decline in con...
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The purpose of this study was to determine if non at-risk and four types of at-risk secondary school students perceive school bonding differently. Findings indicate there are differences between the two groups of students on affective, cognitive and behavioral components of school bonding, although no differences were found between at-risk types. Girls showed stronger bonds to school while boys who were depressed were less affiliated to peers and fostered more negative attitudes towards teachers than other students.
Examining School Connectedness as a Mediator of School Climate Effects
Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2006
Researchers have suggested that good-quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether four aspects of student perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) were indirectly associated with subsequent early adolescent conduct problems and depressive symptoms through school connectedness. Participants were four hundred and eighty-nine 10-to 14-year old middle school students involved in two waves of a study. The results showed that school connectedness mediated the relations between perceived cohesion, perceived friction, and overall satisfaction with classes and subsequent student conduct problems 1 year later. School connectedness was not, however, predictive of subsequent depressive symptoms and thus did not mediate the school climate effects on early adolescent emotional problems.
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When students feel connected to or have strong bonds to their schools, they are more likely to experience academic success. They stay in school longer and attend school regularly (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009b). Yet only about 50% of the youth in schools report feeling connected to or engaged in school (Blum, 2005). Given that school bonding and alienation are opposite sides of the same coin, a significant number of students may be experiencing alienation from school (Schulz & Rubel, 2011). School bonding, or students' connectedness to their school, is linked to health, social, and educational outcomes for youth (Blum, 2005; CDC, 2009b). Moreover, school bonding is one of the developmental assets that increase students' ability to overcome life's challenges and meet academic success (Benson, 2002; Scales, 2005). The resiliency literature identifies developmental assets as protective factors that are precursors to resiliency in youth (Benard, 1991, 2004; Benson, 2002; Bryan, 2005). Three external developmental assets (caring school climate, safety, and school boundaries or rules) and two internal developmental assets (school engagement and bonding to school) are consistently mentioned in the school bonding and connectedness literature (