School climate, victimization, and mental health outcomes among elementary school students in China

Abstract

Although school climate has been identified as a protective factor for youth development in the United States, few longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between school climate and student outcomes in China. This study explored the relationship between school climate, victimization, covitality, internalizing symptoms, and academic achievement, and whether school climate moderated the relationship between victimization and mental health outcomes using longitudinal data. Survey data were collected from 1150 Chinese 3rd to 6th grade students (M age ¼ 10.27 years, SD ¼ 1.03 years, 55% boys) from five elementary schools at two time points. Regression results showed that school climate factors, including student-teacher

International perspectives of school climate

“…Assessing students' sense of belonging in the primary grades can support the implementation of prevention and early intervention strategies ensuring that students feel connected in school. Wang et al (2018) also included a sample of Chinese students in the manuscript 'School climate, victimization, and mental health outcomes among elementary school students in China'. Here, they employed longitudinal analyses and examined the relationship between school climate, victimization and two aspects of mental health, covitality and internalizing symptoms.…”

“…Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to confirm the factor structure of the surveys used within the study. Wang, Boyanton, Ross, and Atway (2018) examined the degree to which school climate predicted student victimization and mental health among a sample of students from China. Multiple regression analyses were employed to examine correlations among school climate, mental health, and victimization.…”

“…Wang et al. (2018) also included a sample of Chinese students in the manuscript ‘School climate, victimization, and mental health outcomes among elementary school students in China’.…”

“…These traditional trends have been evident in schools and classrooms for decades where rates of peer victimization were low and perceptions of the school environment high. However, Wang and colleagues (2018) highlight the changing landscape of the Chinese educational system where the traditional educational norms have been altered. They found that the rate of peer victimization ranged between 42 percent and 36 percent across time periods 1 and 2.…”

Vers une conception théorique multidimensionnelle du climat scolaire interculturel

“…De façon générale, la recherche suggère que le climat d'une école marque de manière significative l'expérience scolaire et le bien-être des acteurs qui la fréquentent (La Salle, 2018). La présence d'un « climat positif » au sein d'une école est ainsi associée à de nombreuses conséquences favorables chez les élèves, tant sur le plan de leur réussite scolaire, de leur engagement en classe et à l'école, de leur sentiment de sécurité, que de leur santé psychologique et de leur bien-être en général (Bradshaw, Koth, Thornton et Leaf, 2009 ;Konishi, Miyazaki, Hymel et Waterhouse, 2017 ;La Salle, George, McCoach, Polk et Evanovich, 2018 ;Leadbeater, Sukhawathanakul, Thompson et Holfeld, 2015 ;Wang, Boyanton, Ross, Liu, Sullivan et Do, 2018).…”