School Connectedness and the Transition Into and Out of Health‐Risk Behavior Among Adolescents: A Comparison of Social Belonging and Teacher Support

Abstract

Supportive and caring relations within families promote academic achievement and protect against involvement in health-risk behaviors by adolescents.' Similarly, supportive and caring relationships within schools (henceforth, school connectedness) promote academic motivation among adolescents.^ Much less is known, however, about the infiuence of school connectedness on adolescent healthrisk behaviors. Previous research generally suffers from two limitations. First, most research is cross-section al.'^ The longitudinal research that does exist does not distinguish between initiation or escalation or reduction of health-risk behaviors.^'' Second, school connectedness has generally been treated as a broad construct that combines students' perceptions of safety, support, belonging and Such a broad conceptualization does not provide clear guidance to policy makers and practitioners on how to increase school connectedness. This paper addresses these limitations by exploring the association between two dimensions of school connectedness perceived teacher support and social belonging - and the initiation, escalation and reduction of participation in six adolescent health-risk behaviors. BACKGROUND Cross-sectional studies show that school connectedness is associated with mental health and lower rates of involvement in multiple health-risk behaviors, including substance use, sexual intercourse, violence, delinquency, and suicidaljfy 12 15 Qjjg quasi-experimental study, the Seattle Social Development Study, evaluated the effects of increasing the school social bond among elementary school students. The intervention group had significantly higher levels of school connectedness than the control group at ages 13 and 18, and was less likely to engage in violence or substance use.'* Three dimensions of school connectedness are emphasized in educational research: social support, belonging and engagement.'^^ When young people receive empathy, praise, and attention in a clear and consistent fashion, they experience social support. The experience of social support generates a sense of belonging which, in turn, leads to increased engagement and academic motivation. Although this theoretical model, originally laid out by Connell and Wellborn, has been empirically supported for academic outcomes, it has not been tested for health outcomes. Most previous studies linking school connectedness to health-risk behaviors combine the different dimensions of school connectedness into a single measure or explore the effect of a single dimension. Drawing on the theoretical framework