Background
With high rates of psychological disorders in Australian adolescents (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009), schools are increasingly seen as a place to promote adolescent wellbeing. Previous research has indicated a number of relationship based factors at an individual and group (i.e. school) level which impact adolescent wellbeing. These include: friendships through extracurricular activities (Eime, Young, Harvey, Charity, & Payne, 2013), school identification, and school climate (such as perception of relationships between students and teachers or between students and their peers; Bizumic, Reynolds, Turner, Bromhead, & Subasic, 2007; Ruus et al., 2007). However, there is minimal research comparing individual and group factors because they emerge from two distinct theoretical traditions that are only recently being integrated.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
Evaluate which relationship-based factors (individual and group level) have the greatest impact on a number of components of adolescent psychology wellbeing (generalised anxiety, depression, positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction).
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
Participants (N = 6,537) were students in years 7-10 (average age 13.97 years old, SD = 1.39) from all public schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Design
Data was analysed using stepwise structural equation modelling using a multilevel framework.
Results
While all individual and group (school) level relationship based factors had some impact on components of adolescent wellbeing; school level factors were much more strongly correlated with positive psychological wellbeing (positive affect, happiness and life satisfaction) than negative psychological wellbeing (generalised anxiety and depression).
Scientific Contribution
Group based factors (i.e. school identification and components of school climate) are much more strongly correlated with positive wellbeing factors than negative wellbeing factors in adolescents. These findings have implications for future interventions and allocation of school resources to improve relationships and associated adolescent wellbeing.