Psychometric Analysis of a School Social Climate Scale: Input Elements for the Investigation and Promotion of Well-Being

Abstract

School social climate from a multidimensional perspective is a focus of great interest in international research and educational and well-being public policies due to the high prevalence of interpersonal violence in adolescents, currently considered a global public health problem. The object of the present study was to assess the psychometric measurement capacity of a set of items to evaluate school social climate in the Student Context Questionnaire of the Chilean Education Quality Measurement System. The sample analyzed consisted of second-year high school students who replied to a Student Context Questionnaire in 2015 (n~158,572). Exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses were carried out in a measurement model to identify the presence of constructs and items of high homogeneity. The results showed an acceptable to a good fit in the final model, which consisted of 15 latent constructs, and also showed invariance for school administrative dependencies and invariance for sex. All the above implies a contribution to the public organisms that create standardized tests along with the investigation in compulsory secondary education measurement to prevent future violent behaviors, contribute to reducing interpersonal violence, and improve the well-being of the educational community.

The Role of Junior Adolescents’ School Well-Being/Ill-Being Characteristics in School Anxiety Variations

“…On average, characteristics of school wellbeing are most pronounced within the system of relations (with teachers and peers), attitudes towards academic work. These findings are consistent with research findings [ 54 , 55 ] that identify social factors of adolescents’ school wellbeing and the importance of emotional self-regulation factors [ 44 ]. Intrinsic motivation for academic work, lack of fear of external evaluation and negative consequences also play a significant role in school adaptation [ 56 ].…”

“…This is consistent with the data of researchers who note the high importance of social factors in the wellbeing of schoolchildren (parents’ expectations, ways of motivating teenagers, etc.) [ 54 , 62 ] and evidence that classroom climate is loosely associated with social-emotional stress [ 63 ].…”

Measuring school social climate in Latin America: the need for multidimensional and multi-informant tests – A systematic review

“…In this order of ideas, from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach ( Bronfenbrenner, 1987 ), the existence of different spheres that make up school climate similar to those previously mentioned is proposed, but in addition it involves a subcomponent of identification with the school; this dual operationalization is adopted by the SCASIM questionnaire in its version for students that has psychometric analyses for the long version ( Gálvez-Nieto et al, 2020 ) and for the brief one ( Gálvez-Nieto et al, 2021b ). Identification with the school is also included as a subcomponent of school climate in the analysis performed from indicators on the SIMCE by Bravo-Sanzana et al (2020) under the concept of SSC, which incorporates several components of the scales that report clearly measuring school climate as one of the measures of coexistence. Other studies that point to the integration of conceptual aspects related to coexistence and SSC are the School Climate Scale by López and Valdés Morales (2018) that deconstructs school climate into regulations, social support and participation, and the coexistence management measure by Larios Gómez (2021) that explores school climate and classroom climate for teachers and students.…”

Future Academic Expectations and Their Relationship with Motivation, Satisfaction of Psychological Needs, Responsibility, and School Social Climate: Gender and Educational Stage

“…In the same manner, in school climate analysis, several pieces of research affirmed that it was mediated by other variables like academic performance and satisfaction in the academic sphere [ 48 , 49 ]. In this line, this investigation was in accordance with those studies, since it included in its results the influence of academic expectations in positive school climate development.…”