Abstract
Background and objectivesStudies suggest that individual student-reported connection to school is associated with better mental health. However, there is less evidence for associations between schools’ overall school climate and the mental health of their students. This may reflect limitations in which mental health outcomes have been examined. We conducted a large longitudinal study in schools, hypothesising that we would find associations at both the student and school levels between student-reported positive school climate, and reduced student conduct and emotional problems and improved mental wellbeing. MethodsWe tracked students in 20 English secondary schools from near the end of the first year of secondary school (age 11/12) over 3 years using reliable measures of school climate and mental health. ResultsWe found associations between student-level reports of positive school climate at baseline, and reduced conduct and emotional problems and better mental wellbeing at 3-year follow-up adjusting for various potential confounders. We also found some evidence of adjusted associations between baseline school-level measures of overall positive climate and better student mental health at follow-up. However, these student- and school-level associations reduced considerably when also adjusting for baseline mental health. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that there are associations between school climate and student mental health at both the student and school level but these associations are complex and not necessarily causal.
Highlights
Whether school climate is influential on adolescent mental health is an important question because mental health problems are a significant cause of disability and commonly arise in adolescence
To attempt to address these limitations in the existing evidence, we examined the association between student- and school-level measures of positive school climate and adolescent mental health, drawing on a large longitudinal study data tracking students from age 11/12 years to age 14/15 years in English secondary schools (Bonell et al, 2018)
In analyses adjusting for all covariates other than baseline mental health, we found that, in line with previous research (Aldridge & McChesney, 2018; England Mental Health Taskforce, 2016), we found strong and consistent associations between student-level reports of positive school climate at baseline and better mental health in terms of reduced conduct and emotional problems and better mental wellbeing at 36 months
Summary
Whether school climate is influential on adolescent mental health is an important question because mental health problems are a significant cause of disability and commonly arise in adolescence. We conducted a large longitudinal study in schools, hypothesising that we would find associations at both the student and school levels between student-reported positive school climate, and reduced student conduct and emotional problems and improved mental wellbeing. Results: We found associations between student-level reports of positive school climate at baseline, and reduced conduct and emotional problems and better mental wellbeing at 3-year follow-up adjusting for various potential confounders. We found some evidence of adjusted associations between baseline school-level measures of overall positive climate and better student mental health at follow-up. These student- and school-level associations reduced considerably when adjusting for baseline mental health. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there are associations between school climate and student mental health at both the student and school level but these associations are complex and not necessarily causal
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