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Exploring the Influence School Climate on the Relationship between School Violence and Adolescent Subjective Well-Being

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Abstract

School climate plays a key, protecting role against adverse outcomes when young individuals face peer victimization. Here we examined the potential relationships among adolescent’s wellbeing, school violence, and school climate in a sample of 2006 Chilean students (48% female) aged 10–21 (M = 14.97, SD = 1.86) from 20 schools located in the same school department. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing wellbeing, school violence, and school climate. Using multilevel (Hierarchical Linear Modeling; HLM) methods we found that positive interpersonal relationships (an indicator of school climate) were significantly associated to wellbeing at schools (γ01 = .24, p < .01). School bonding was also associated to peer victimization and wellbeing (γ90 = .14, p < .10). Our results highlight the importance of improving school related factors in order to achieve a more supportive environment for youth wellbeing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarollo, Av. Plaza, 680, Santiago, Chile

    Jorge J. Varela, David Sirlopú & Roberto Melipillán

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Dorothy Espelage

  3. School of Education, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Jennifer Green & Javier Guzmán

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  1. Jorge J. Varela
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Varela, J.J., Sirlopú, D., Melipillán, R. et al. Exploring the Influence School Climate on the Relationship between School Violence and Adolescent Subjective Well-Being. Child Ind Res 12, 2095–2110 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-09631-9

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