Does Socioeconomic Status Moderate the Relationship Between School Belonging and School-Related factors in Australia?

Abstract

Sense of school belonging has a strong impact on adolescents’ well-being, and whilst there are many factors that can influence school belonging, two of the most salient factors include perceived teacher support and exposure to bullying . While the association between school belonging and teacher support and school belonging and exposure to bullying are well documented in the literature, less is known about how these relationships vary depending on students’ socioeconomic status (SES). The aim of this study was to investigate whether SES moderated the relationship between school belonging and these school-related factors. The sample was drawn from the 14,273 Australian 15 and 16-year-olds who completed the 2018 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey. Linear regression analyses revealed that the association between school belonging and teacher support was not moderated by SES and there was a positive relationship between SES and sense of school belonging, even after accounting for teacher support, exposure to bullying and other student and school characteristics. Despite limitations, this study fills a gap in the literature, provides a foundation for further research to build on, and has potential implications for how safety should be promoted for students of both high and low SES for teacher support to more strongly influence their sense of school belonging.

School Climate Perception Among Latinx and White Students: An Examination of Intersecting Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Identities in Context

“…At the student level, regardless of racial/ethnic identities and socioeconomic backgrounds, students who identified as sexual minorities reported a less favorable school climate. These findings echoed the literature, showing that students who identified as sexual minorities have encountered more barriers to having positive school experiences and engagement (e.g., Allen et al, 2022;Fullarton, 2002;Ioverno & Russell, 2021). Overall, much smaller portions of variances of school safety/equity and school attitudes to parental participation were explained by the model compared with school support, reflecting distinctive mechanisms contributed to different dimensions of school climate.…”

The Relationship between a Competitive School Climate and School Bullying among Secondary Vocational School Students in China: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Cross-cultural research on Chilean and South African students also provides evidence that a positive school climate can reduce school bullying [61]. In addition, studies based on PISA data from the United States, Australia, and other countries have indicated that school belonging is correlated with school bullying, and school belonging can mitigate the negative effects of school bullying to a certain extent [62,63]. Chinese studies using PISA data have also addressed the relationship between school climate, school belonging, and school bullying.…”