ABSTRACT
The present study tested two competing models to assess whether psychosocial adjustment problems mediate the associations between peer victimization and school connectedness one year later, or if peer victimization mediates the associations between psychosocial adjustment problems and school connectedness. Participants were 500 10- to 14-year-old adolescents (53% girls) involved in two study waves. Path analyses indicated that the better-fitting model was one in which peer victimization mediated the adjustment problem effects. Specifically, relational, but not overt, victimization mediated the association between depressive symptoms and change in school connectedness one year later. Multigroup analyses indicated that the model was largely consistent across gender. Findings extend our understanding of the factors that contribute to middle school students' school connectedness.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Bullying/psychology , Crime Victims/psychology , Peer Group , Social Adjustment , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Models, Psychological , Schools , Social Behavior , Students/psychologyABSTRACT
This study examined (a) the associations between school connectedness and early adolescent adjustment problems over a 1 year period and (b) the equivalence of these associations across gender. Five hundred middle school students (53.4% female), initially in the 6th and 7th grades, participated in the two-wave study. Results from two-group cross-lagged panel analyses were consistent across boys' and girls' data. After controlling for baseline levels of adjustment problems, school connectedness predicted lower levels of early adolescent conduct problems 1 year later. Regarding the opposite direction of associations, and even after baseline levels of school connectedness were taken into account, conduct problems predicted lower levels of subsequent school connectedness. There were no cross-lagged associations between depressive symptoms and school connectedness, although elevated levels of baseline depressive symptoms predicted higher levels of subsequent conduct problems. Findings elaborate previous research by demonstrating that early adolescents actively shape the middle school environment.
