Examining School Connectedness as a Mediator of School Climate Effects

TLDR

Good‑quality school climates foster a sense of connection that reduces emotional and behavioral problems, yet few studies have directly examined connectedness as a mediator. The study used path analysis to test whether perceived cohesion, friction, competition, and class satisfaction were indirectly linked to later conduct problems and depressive symptoms through school connectedness. The analysis involved 489 middle‑school students (ages 10–14) surveyed at two waves. School connectedness mediated the link between perceived cohesion, friction, and class satisfaction and later conduct problems, but did not predict depressive symptoms and therefore did not mediate climate effects on emotional problems.

Abstract

Researchers have suggested that good‐quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether four aspects of student perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) were indirectly associated with subsequent early adolescent conduct problems and depressive symptoms through school connectedness. Participants were four hundred and eighty‐nine 10‐ to 14‐year old middle school students involved in two waves of a study. The results showed that school connectedness mediated the relations between perceived cohesion, perceived friction, and overall satisfaction with classes and subsequent student conduct problems 1 year later. School connectedness was not, however, predictive of subsequent depressive symptoms and thus did not mediate the school climate effects on early adolescent emotional problems.