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School Climate and Indicators of Emotional Distress School Climate and Indicators of Emotional Distress Presented By: Sabena Thomas, MA, Shay M. Daily, MPH, MCHES, Alfgeir L. Kristjansson, PhD., Megan Smith, PhD., & Michael J. Mann, PhD. School of Public Health Introduction School Climate (SC): quality and consistency of school life that may impact students’ social cognitive and behavioral development . This includes the social and physical aspects of the school environment.1 Student Wellbeing : “a sustainable state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school.” 2 School of Public Health Introduction A positive SC is positively associated with academic achievement, 1 motivation to learn3, psychological well-being4 and inversely related to absenteeism5, and problem behaviors 6 in school. However, an unanswered question is “what specific aspects of school climate is related to mental health outcomes?” School of Public Health Objective Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the relationship between a 10 sub-dimensional SC measure and self reported levels of anxiety, depression, conduct disorder and perceived stress in middle and high school students. School of Public Health Measures: Independent Variable School Climate School Climate Measure 108 SC1: Student-Teacher Relationships (8-items, α = .93) SC2: Order and Safety (6-items, α = .89) SC3: Student Engagement (6-items, α = .88) SC4: Physical Environment (4-items, α =.95) SC5: Academic Support (4-items, α =.84 ) SC6: Parental Involvement (3-items, α = .90) SC7: School Connectedness (3-items, α = .84) SC8: Perceived Exclusion/Privilege (3-items, α = .90) SC9: Social Environment (2-items α = .88) SC10: Academic Satisfaction (2-items α = .74) School of Public Health Measures School Climate Measure 108 SC1: Student-Teacher Relationships: Teachers understand my problems. SC2: Order and Safety: The rules of the school are fair. SC3: Student Engagement: Females and males are treated as equals at school. SC4: Physical Environment: My school is neat and clean. SC5: Academic Support: I feel that I can do well in this school. SC6: Parental Involvement: My parents/caregivers are involved in school activities. SC7: School Connectedness: My schoolwork is exciting. SC8: Perceived Exclusion/Privilege: At my school, the same person always gets to help the teacher. SC9: Social Environment: I am happy with the kinds of students who go to my school. SC10: Academic Satisfaction: I am happy about the amount of homework I have. School of Public Health Measures: Dependent Variable Student Well-being Anxiety(3 – items) 9 • 4-Point Likert Style Scale (Never to Often) • Ex: How often did you feel any of the following mental or physical discomforts in the past week? Sudden fear for no apparent reason Depression (10 – items) 9 • 4-Point Likert Style Scale (Never to Often) • Ex: How often did you feel any of the following mental or physical discomforts in the past week? I felt sad or blue School of Public Health Measures Conduct Disorder (5 – items) 10 • 4-Point Likert Style Scale (Never to Almost all the time/All the time) • Ex: How often during the past 12 months have you done any of the following? Got into fights Perceived stress(10 – items) 11 • 4-Point Likert Style Scale (Never to Very Often) • Ex: In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things? School of Public Health Sample, Procedures and Analyses Middle Schools Total: 15 • 6,472 surveyed • Response rate: 84.2% • Boys: 50.7% Girls: 49.3% • Caucasian: 76.5% Black/AA: 13% Other: 10.5% High Schools Total: 9 • 7, 379 surveyed • Response rate: 74% • Boys: 49.5% Girls: 50.5% • White/Caucasian: 76.5% Black/AA: 13% Other: 10.5% School of Public Health Sample, Procedures and Analyses • Students completed a survey developed for PROJECT AWARE during Fall 2016. • Survey items included questions regarding socio-demographic factors, school climate and levels of general emotional and psychological well-being. • Design: School Based Population Survey Statistical Analysis • Multiple Linear Regression to analyze the associations between variables. School of Public Health Findings Middle School Students Conduct Disorder Perceived Depressed mood (β) Anxiety (β) (β) Stress(β) SC1: Teacher Relationships -.12** -.06* -.13** -.11** SC2: Order & Discipline .10* .08** -.05* .07** SC3: Student Engagement -.09** -.07** -.04 -.11** SC4: Physical Environment .07** .09** .05** .04* SC5: Academic Support -.09** -.07** .11** -.12** SC6: Parental Involvement -.16** -.12** -.10** -.17** SC7: School Connectedness -.06** .02 .03 .07** SC8: Exclusion/Privilege -.11** -.11** -.05* -.16** SC9: Social Environment -.13** -.12** -.01 -.11** SC10: Academic Satisfaction -.01 .00 -.04* -.01 ** ** p < .01, * p < .05 R2 .16 .12 .14 .22 School of Public Health Findings – Middle school students Middle schools - variance Middle schools – standardized explained β (p <.05) • Depressed mood: 16%, • Parental involvement: .10 to .17 - all outcomes • Anxiety: 12%, • Teacher relationships: .06 to • Conduct Disorder: 14% .13– all outcomes • Perceived Stress: 22% • Perceived exclusion/privilege : .05 to .16 - all outcomes School of Public Health Findings High School Students Conduct Disorder Perceived Depressed mood (β) Anxiety (β) (β) Stress(β) SC1: Teacher Relationships -.05** -.04* -.08** -.05** SC2: Order & Discipline .01 .02 -.07** .03 SC3: Student Engagement -.06** -.05* -.03 -.09** SC4: Physical Environment .04* .04* .02 .04* SC5: Academic Support .02 -.08** -.05** -.05** SC6: Parental Involvement -.13** -.10** -.08** -.12** SC7: School Connectedness -.01 -.03 .01 -.00 SC8: Exclusion/Privilege -.12** -.10** -.03* -.15** SC9: Social Environment -.12** -.12** -.01 -.11** SC10: Academic Satisfaction -.02 -.03 -.04** -.06** 2 ** p < .01, * p < .05 R .17 .15 .08 .20 School of Public Health Findings – High school students High schools – standardized β (p High schools - variance <.05) explained • Parental involvement: .08 to .13 - • Depressed mood: 17%, all outcomes • Anxiety: 15%, • Teacher relationships: .04 to .08 - • Conduct Disorder: 8% all outcomes • Perceived Stress: 20% • Perceived exclusion/privilege : .03 to .15 - all outcomes • Social environment: .01 to .12- all outcomes School of Public Health Discussion • The SC domains of parental involvement, teacher relationships, perceived exclusion/privilege had the highest associations. • These analysis suggest a positive SC is likely to decrease certain mental health outcomes namely: depression, anxiety, behavioral problems and perceived stress. • Overall, we conclude that a positive SC may act as a protective factor for mental health. School of Public Health Implications Findings suggest that SC is an important indicator for mental health outcomes. This study underscores the importance of developing and maintaining a positive SC as this could be beneficial in the development and maintenance of positive psychological outcomes particularly in schools where mental health is a problem. The study further supports the idea of developing academic and population level support for mental health through a positive SC. School of Public Health Acknowledgements Project AWARE 2016-2021 is funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration (SAMSA) and the West Virginia Department of Education. The authors would like to extend our gratitude to the fund for its generous support. School of Public Health References 1. Haynes, N. M., Emmons, C., & Ben-Avie, M. (1997). School climate as a factor in student adjustment and achievement. Journal of educational and psychological consultation, 8(3), 321-329. 2. Noble, T., McGrath, H., Roffey, S. & Rowling, L. (2008). A scoping study on student well-being. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations 3. Scherer, R., & Nilsen, T. (2016). The Relations Among School Climate, Instructional Quality, and Achievement Motivation in Mathematics. In Teacher Quality, Instructional Quality and Student Outcomes (pp. 51-80). Springer International Publishing. 4. Way N, Reddy R, Rhodes J. Students' perceptions of school climate during the middle school years: associations with trajectories of psychological and behavioral adjustment. Am J Community Psychol. 2007;40:194-213. 5. Kearney CA. School absenteeism and school refusal behavior in youth: a contemporary review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2008;28:451-471. 6. Wang, M. T., & Dishion, T. J. (2012). The trajectories of adolescents’ perceptions of school climate, deviant peer affiliation, and behavioral problems during the middle school years. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 40-53. 7. Borkar, V. N. (2016). Positive school climate and positive education: Impact on students well-being. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 7(8), 861. 8. Zullig KJ, Collins R, Ghani N, et al. Preliminary development of a revised version of the school climate measure. Psychol Assess. 2015; 27(3):1072-1081 9. Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Covi L. SCL-90: An Outpatient Psychiatric Rating Scale –preliminary report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 1973;9:13–28. 10. Shochet, I. M., Dadds, M. R., Ham, D., & Montague, R. (2006). School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: Results of a community prediction study. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 35(2), 170-179. 11. Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396. 12. Bond, L., Butler, H., Thomas, L., Carlin, J., Glover, S., Bowes, G., & Patton, G. (2007). Social and school connectedness in early secondary school as predictors of late teenage substance use, mental health, and academic outcomes. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(4), 357-e9. School of Public Health .
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