Contextualizing the Association Between School Climate and Student Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Rurality

Beyond School Climate: Conceptualizing the School as a Protective Factor Approach

BACKGROUND

The school climate concept has been promising, but has long-standing critiques that have not been adequately addressed to date. The School as a Protective Factor approach represents one attempt to offer a new approach that builds on and extends beyond the concept of school climate while addressing previously identified limitations.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEORY

The School as a Protective Factor approach offers a new framework for conceptualizing, measuring, and establishing protective school social and learning environments that co-promote academic achievement and student health in schools, especially student mental health and substance use/abuse prevention. This new framework includes clear definitions, explicit goals, firmly established constructs, validated measures, and an intentionally parsimonious approach that prioritizes the implementation of well-established, high-impact constructs. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: The School as a Protective Factor approach presents a simple, easy-to-use means of ensuring a school social environment that meets the developmental, academic, and health needs of all children and adolescents while maximizing protection across a range of desired outcomes. Perhaps most importantly, it does so in a manner that is manageable and easily integrated into every aspect of schooling, resonates with the practical experience of school personnel, and includes brief, effective, and free measurement tools.

Individual- and school-level patterns of substance use and mental health symptoms in a population-based sample of secondary students: A multilevel latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

While substance use and mental health symptoms commonly co-occur among adolescents, few population-level studies have examined profiles of co-occurrence to inform tailored prevention and early interventions.

METHODS

A multilevel latent profile analysis was conducted on a representative sample of 11,994 students in 68 secondary schools to: 1) identify distinct profiles of co-occurring substance use and mental health symptoms; 2) identify types of schools based on student profiles; and 3) explore school correlates of student profiles and school types, including school climate, belonging, and safety.

RESULTS

Five student profiles and three school types were identified. Among students, 57.6 % were in a low substance use and mental health profile, 22.5 % were in a high mental health but low substance use profile, 9.7 % were in a heavy drinking and cannabis use profile, 3.7 % were in a heavy drinking and smoking profile, and 6.5 % were in a high substance use and mental health profile. Positive school climate, belonging, and safety increased the odds of students being in the low profile, with belonging yielding larger effects among females. Among schools, 28 % had low, 57 % had moderate, and 15 % had high levels of student substance use and comorbid mental health symptoms. Rural schools were disproportionately represented in higher risk school types.

CONCLUSIONS

The identified student substance use and mental health symptom profiles can serve as targets for tailored prevention and early interventions. Results support examining school-based interventions targeting school climate, belonging, and safety with potential benefits to both substance use and mental health.

On the Role of Teacher-Student Rapport on English as a Foreign Language Students’ Well-Being

Given the centrality of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ wellbeing in their academic success, identifying factors that may be influential in fostering students’ well-being is of high importance. As such, several studies have delved into the role of various personal and interpersonal factors in increasing EFL students’ well-being. However, little attention has been devoted to the function of teacher-student rapport. Besides, no systematic or theoretical review has been conducted in this regard. To address these gaps, the present study intends to illustrate different definitions of student well-being and teacher-student rapport, their sub-components, and their theoretical relations. Building upon the theoretical and empirical bases, the facilitative function of teacher-student rapport in increasing EFL students’ well-being was proved. Some beneficial implications are also discussed.