5 - (OP26) The Role of School Culture and Context on Student Psychological Distress and Wellbeing: Findings from a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Evidence suggests that school-level factors such as geographical location and school culture account for some variability in student mental health and wellbeing cross-sectionally. However, little is known about the influence of school-level factors on adolescents’ mental health over time. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine both the cross sectional and longitudinal relationship between school-level factors and student mental health.

This study used data collected from the Future Proofing Study, a large Australian, nationally representative study on adolescent mental health. Data from baseline (Year 8, ages 13-14) and 24-month follow up (Year 10, ages 15-16) was used to assess whether school-level factors (location/regional characteristics, school administrative characteristics, student body characteristics, and both student and teacher-rated school culture) were associated with students’ levels of psychological distress and well-being cross-sectionally and two years later. The sample consisted of N = 1548 adolescents (51.8% female, 44.8% male, 3.4% gender diverse) from 35 schools in New South Wales, Australia. Analyses were conducted using fixed effects modelling with cluster robust standard errors to adjust for school clustering.

Results showed that being in a single gender vs. coed school (B = 1.24, p = .008) and higher levels of student-level socioeconomic advantage (B = 0.26, p = .002) were significantly associated with higher levels of well-being cross-sectionally. Additionally, higher levels of student-rated school connectedness and school climate were significantly associated with both higher wellbeing and lower levels of psychological distress cross-sectionally. Longitudinal analysis showed that only higher baseline levels of student-rated school connectedness (B = 0.20, p = .003) were significantly associated with higher levels of wellbeing two years later.

Findings from this study highlight the importance of students’ sense of connectedness with their school community on psychological well-being over time. These findings suggest that targeting school connectedness may have long-term benefits for student mental health and wellbeing and may be of particular value to mental health professionals working in school settings. Further research assessing how this relationship may change across adolescence, as well as how school connectedness may influence risk for development of psychopathology is warranted.