Exploring the Influence School Climate on the Relationship between School Violence and Adolescent Subjective Well-Being

Abstract

School climate plays a key, protecting role against adverse outcomes when young individuals face peer victimization. Here we examined the potential relationships among adolescent's wellbeing, school violence, and school climate in a sample of 2006 Chilean students (48% female) aged 10-21 (M = 14.97, SD = 1.86) from 20 schools located in the same school department. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing wellbeing, school violence, and school climate. Using multilevel (Hierarchical Linear Modeling; HLM) methods we found that positive interpersonal relationships (an indicator of school climate) were significantly associated to wellbeing at schools (γ01 = .24, p < .01). School bonding was also associated to peer victimization and wellbeing (γ 90 = .14, p < .10). Our results highlight the importance of improving school related factors in order to achieve a more supportive environment for youth wellbeing. Keywords Adolescent wellbeing . School violence . School climateAdolescent subjective wellbeing is a vital aspect in a young individual's life development. This concept can be affected by a variety of factors such as cultural and developmental contexts, including schools (Casas 2011). Indeed, negative experiences at school, such as becoming a victim of violence, can have both short-and long-term consequences for young individuals (Låftman et al. 2018;Tsaousis 2016;Wolke and Lereya 2015). Conversely, a positive climate at school increases the likelihood of support for victims provided by the school staff (O'Brennan et al. 2014). Although a

Bullied Adolescent’s Life Satisfaction: Personal Competencies and School Climate as Protective Factors

“…Finally, in previous studies school climate and life satisfaction were found to be negatively related to victimization (Martínez-Ferrer et al, 2011), and our results seem to confirm that the perceived school climate is an aspect of particular relevance of students life satisfaction (Suldo et al, 2013), including in situations in which someone is being bullied; the help and support of peers and teachers could prevent incidences of bullying, and as well as diminish the negative effect that bullying has on well-being (Flaspohler et al, 2009; Miranda et al, 2019; Rezapour et al, 2019; Varela et al, 2019; Zych et al, 2019).…”

“…We are aware, on the other hand, that subjective well-being can be affected by various situations experienced by adolescents, including school victimization (Savahl et al, 2018; Zych et al, 2018; Varela et al, 2019). Bullying is defined as “a phenomenon of intentional aggression by one or more persons upon another or others in a way that is both repeated and maintained over time, and in which a power imbalance exists between the aggressor and the victim” (Olweus, 1993, p. 9).…”

¿Es el bienestar subjetivo hedónico y eudamónico una distinción válida para Chile?

“…Excepciones a lo anterior son algunos estudios que evalúan el BS en la población nacional infantil y adolescente, incorporando otros aspectos de bienestar psicológico (acercándose con ello a la dimensión eudamónica), tales como relaciones interpersonales, estado de salud, bienestar económico, características del entorno, salud mental y autoestima (Dinisman & Ben-Arieh, 2016;Lawler, Newland, Giger, & Brockevelt, 2017;Oyarzún Gómez, Casas, Alfaro Inzunza, & Ascorra Costa, 2017;Varela et al, 2019).…”

School Satisfaction in Immigrant and Chilean Students: The Role of Prejudice and Cultural Self-Efficacy

“…Conversely, literature shows that trusting in peers, establishing positive friendships at school, and receiving prosocial acts from schoolmates improve students' satisfaction with their lives and also with their schooling processes (Jiang et al, 2013;Huebner et al, 2014;Oyarzun et al, 2017;Su et al, 2019;Varela et al, 2019). These could be especially important for immigrant students' , for whom social relationships at school have also a great role in the promotion of their positive integration to the host country (Verkuyten and Thijs, 2002;Berry et al, 2006;Asendorpf and Motti-Stefanidi, 2017;Schachner et al, 2018a).…”