Associations Between Teacher-Reported School Climate and Depressive Symptoms in Australian Adolescents: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Adolescent depression is serious and common. As adolescents spend approximately 15,000 hours in school, this setting is a logical place to seek etiological factors. Research suggests there are negative associations between school climate and adolescent depressive symptoms. However, such studies typically use student-reports of both climate and depressive symptoms; this is problematic because common method variance results when the same individual provides information on all variables, contributing to overestimations of associations between depressive symptoms and school climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the association between teacherreported school climate and adolescent-reported depressive symptoms. Thus, 2545 Australian high school students participated in this 5-year longitudinal study. Students completed a measure of depressive symptoms annually; their teachers (n = 882) completed a questionnaire to evaluate the quality of the school environment (i.e., safe/orderly & supportive relationships). Multi-group latent growth models revealed that more positive teacher-reported school climate was cross-sectionally associated with fewer student-reported depressive symptoms in both boys and girls, although this association was significantly stronger for girls. Longitudinally, positive school climate was associated with lower depressive symptoms but a higher rate of change of symptoms for both boys and girls. The overall findings are consistent with previous findings with student-reported school climate. However, the gender difference and the directionality of the longitudinal association between school climate and depressive symptoms over time demonstrate that additional studies of mechanisms by which school climate is connected to adolescents' depressive symptoms are needed.

School-Related and Individual Predictors of Subjective Well-Being and Academic Achievement

“…However, the authors considered only the total score and did not report the correlations between the subscales of the SCSIM-St and depression. Similar results were found when teacher-reported school climate was assessed, that is, teacher-reported school climate was also negatively associated with students’ depression scores (Pössel et al, 2016). Salmela-Aro et al (2008) considered three subscales of school climate and regressed them on school burnout, which might also be interpreted as an indicator of the affective component of SWB.…”

Protective factors for depressive symptoms in adolescents: Interpersonal relationships and perceived social support

“…Adolescent depressive symptoms are closely associated with maladaptive and negative developmental outcomes (Jonsson et al., ; Pössel, Rudasill, Sawyer, Spence, & Bjerg, ). For instance, studies have shown that adolescents’ depressive symptoms are associated with the risk of behavioral and emotional difficulties (e.g., Jonsson et al., ; Pössel et al., ), low self‐esteem, less effective coping, and a higher likelihood of cigarette smoking (Fletcher, ; Prinstein & La Greca, ). In addition, depressive symptoms among adolescents were associated with poorer daily adherence and greater stress severity (Baucom et al., ).…”

Depressive Symptoms and Academic Achievement: The Role of Adolescents’ Perceptions of Teachers’ and Peers’ Behaviors

“…To advance the literature, we expected that the strength of the relation between adolescents’ depressive symptoms and their academic achievement could be explained by the adolescents’ perception of the teachers’ and peers’ behaviors. Specifically, based on previous literature, indicating that adolescents who perceived their teachers as supportive, caring, and respectful of students and positive relationships with their peers also reported higher achievement and lower depressive symptoms over time (e.g., Newman et al, ; Pössel et al, ; Schwartz et al, ; Tas, ), we expected that the perception of supportive relationships with teachers and peers would be directly associated with higher academic achievement and fewer depressive symptoms. However, we could not formulate specific hypotheses about the directionality of these relations, because of the mixed findings regarding the differential roles of the teacher and peer relationships for the adolescents’ adjustment (Lynch & Cicchetti, ; Roorda et al, ).…”

“…However, there is evidence that emotional support from teachers and depressive symptoms are not related for a sample of older adolescents (e.g., Pittard, Pössel, & Smith, ). Further, there is little evidence showing that supportive relationships with teachers are linked with adolescents’ depressive symptoms over time (e.g., Pössel et al, ; Pössel, Rudasill, Sawyer, Spence, & Bjerg, ).…”