Type of disability, gender, and age affect school satisfaction: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Abstract

Background. Self-reported school satisfaction is an important indicator of child and adolescent well-being. Few studies have examined how disability, gender, and age affect school satisfaction. Aim. We sought to determine whether the interaction between disability and gender with regard to self-reported school satisfaction might be specific to particular types of disability and particular ages. Methods. We undertook secondary analysis of Waves 5 and 6 of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative sample of children born 2000-2002. MCS is the fourth in the series of British birth cohort studies. Result. At 11 years of age (n = 12,207), school satisfaction was significantly higher for girls and those without disabilities. By contrast, at 14 (n = 10,933), school satisfaction was significantly higher for boys and those without disabilities. Subsequent analyses of gender moderation of the association between disability and school satisfaction revealed a significant interaction between gender and disabilities associated with mental health and with dexterity, respectively, at 14 years but not at age 11. Conclusion. These findings will inform future research endeavours, policy, and practice in psychology, education, and other areas associated with child development and disability. One important indicator of child and adolescent well-being is school satisfaction. A seminal national study conducted in the United States stated 'Of the constellation of forces that influence adolescent health-risk behaviour, the most fundamental are the social contexts in which adolescents are embedded; the family and school contexts are among the most critical' (Resnick et al., 1997, p. 823). This has been reiterated numerous times in the literature including a recent report from the World Health Organization study of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) which states that liking school serves as a 'protective factor against health-compromising behaviors' whereas not liking school 'is associated with health-risk behaviors, low self-rated health and increased somatic and This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Poor School-Related Well-Being among Adolescents with Disabilities or ADHD

“…For students with other disabilities, this association disappeared after adjustments for school-related factors, but not for health-compromising behaviours. This is, in part, in line with previous studies showing that students having disabilities, such as impairment in vision, hearing, and motor functioning as well as neuropsychiatric impairments, had significantly lower feeling of satisfaction and well-being at school than students without a disability [17,25,26]. There may be several explanations for our findings, as follows:…”

“…Adolescents with disabilities often experience stigmatisation, discrimination and inequalities, such as disrespect, because of their disability [ 20 ]. Having a disability may negatively influence several aspects of the adolescents’ life, for example, relations with friends [ 14 , 21 ], leisure and healthy behaviour [ 22 , 23 ], school attendance [ 24 ], learning [ 5 ], grades [ 22 ] and school-related well-being [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Parents’ Perceptions of School Support During COVID-19: What Satisfies Parents?

“…Parents are highly relevant educational actors, as they are both the actual consumers of the school and in charge of their children's education (Fend 2000: 66f;Fend 2008: 109ff). However, many studies on school satisfaction focus on students' rather than on parents' satisfaction (Okun et al, 1990;Zullig et al, 2011;Casas et al, 2013;Weber and Huebner 2015;Arciuli et al, 2019;Arciuli and Emerson 2020). Studies on parents' satisfaction usually refer to parents of younger cohorts who attend kindergarten or elementary school (Ulrey et al, 1982;Griffith 2000;Cryer et al, 2002;Bailey et al, 2003;Thompson 2003;Fantuzzo et al, 2006;Bassok et al, 2018).…”

The association between disability and risk of exposure to peer cyber victimisation is moderated by gender: Cross-sectional survey

“…These differences in exposure rates may identify one of the pathways that contribute to the gender moderation of the association between disability and wellbeing in adolescence, with girls with a disability being at greater risk of low school satisfaction than would be predicted by the combined effects of disability and female gender. 20,21 Among samples of adolescents, cyber-bullying victimisation is associated with engagement in risky online behaviours. 28,29 Such behaviour clearly exacerbates vulnerability to victimisation, but also highlights the critical importance of education regarding cyber safety.…”

“…Specifically, adolescent girls with a disability appear to be at markedly greater risk of lower satisfaction with school than would be expected by the combined effects of disability status and gender. 20,21 The aims of the present study were: (1) to estimate the prevalence of peer cyber and non-cyber victimisation in a nationally representative sample of 14 year old adolescents with and without disability; (2) to estimate the extent to which gender moderates the relationship between disability and exposure to cyber and non-cyber victimisation.…”