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The Relationship Between School Perceptions and Psychosomatic Complaints: Cross-Country Differences Across Canada, Norway, and Romania

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Abstract

This study examined the predictive value of school climate and peer support for psychosomatic complaints, perceived academic achievement, and school satisfaction in Canada, Norway, and Romania. While the three countries used the same measures of each construct, the questionnaires were written in three different languages. Thus, we first established the linguistic equivalence of the instruments across the three countries. Having established linguistic equivalence, we next examined the extent to which the patterns of relationship were similar across the countries and for two age groups (13- and 15-year-olds). There were similar cross-national patterns in relationships with stronger links between school climate and the three outcomes than between peer support and the outcomes. The peer support–perceived academic achievement path was in all instances weak or non-significant. With respect to age differences, none were observed in Canada and Norway, but age differences were seen in Romania.

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Notes

  1. School climate is also known as school belonging and school connectedness. In discussing studies of school climate, we employ the term used by the original authors.

  2. Unless noted, all studies were conducted in the United States.

  3. In the following discussion, information about Canada was obtained from Berg (1995), Nuwer (2002), and Saklofske et al. (2007); information about Norway was obtained from Anthun and Manger (2007), Bjørndal (1995), and Moore (2002); and information about Romania was obtained from Dinca et al. (2007), Hartley (2002), and Vaideanu (1995). This information was supplemented by the authors’ extensive personal experience in the cultural and educational systems of the three countries.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to extend their appreciation to Jolene Wintermute, Laura Murray, and the members of the HBSC School Focus Group. Funding for this study was provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Norwegian Research Council, and the Elliott Travel Fellowship. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) is an international study carried out in collaboration with WHO/EURO. The International Coordinator of the [insert survey date] survey was Candace Currie, and the Data Management Centre Manager was Oddrun Samdal. The principal investigators for the 2005–2006 survey were as follows: Will Boyce (Canada), Oddrun Samdal (Norway), and Adriana Băban (Romania). For details, see www.hbsc.org.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    John G. Freeman

  2. Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Oddrun Samdal

  3. Department of Health Psychology, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Adriana Băban

  4. Institute of Public Health, University of Southern-Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

    Delia Bancila

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  1. John G. Freeman
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  2. Oddrun Samdal
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  3. Adriana Băban
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  4. Delia Bancila
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Correspondence to John G. Freeman.

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Freeman, J.G., Samdal, O., Băban, A. et al. The Relationship Between School Perceptions and Psychosomatic Complaints: Cross-Country Differences Across Canada, Norway, and Romania. School Mental Health 4, 95–104 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-011-9070-9

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