Background
Sense of school belonging is believed to be linked to positive psychosocial and educational outcomes, such as less bullying victimization, fewer internalizing symptoms (Osternman, 2000;) and better academic achievement (Goodenow & Grady, 1993). This study examined the relationships between school belonging, internalizing symptoms, academic performance and victimization over time.
Research Questions
This study investigated (1) whether school belonging T1 moderates the relationship between internalizing symptoms T1 and academic achievement T2, and (2) whether school belonging T1 moderates the relationship between victimization T1 and internalizing symptoms T2.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
This study was conducted in five elementary schools in China. Data were collected from 800 3rd to 6th grade students (Mage = 10.49 years, SD = 1.21 years, 56.2% boys) over two time points (6 months apart).
Design
Data were collected using an online survey. Students also completed the following measures: the Psychological Sense of School Membership Chinese Version (PSSM; Goodenow, 1993; Pan, Wang, Song, Ding, & Dai, 2011), the Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale-Student-Chinese Version (DBVS-S; Bear et al., 2016; Xie et al., 2016), and the internalizing symptoms subscale from The Me and My School Questionnaire (Deighton et al., 2013).
Results
Results showed that internalizing symptoms at T1 (β = -0.12, p < .01) and school belonging at T1 (β = 0.08, p < .05) predicted self-reported grades at T2. School belonging at T1 did not moderate the relationship between internalizing symptoms at T1 and self-reported grades at T2. In addition, victimization at T1 (β = 0.20, p < .001) and school belonging at T1 β = -0.15, p < .001) both predicted self-reported internalizing symptoms at T2. School belonging at T1 did not moderate this relationship. This study showed that sense of school belonging has a direct effect on youth academic and mental health outcomes.