Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 3;18(2):e0280244. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280244. eCollection 2023.
Feeling a sense of belonging at school is associated with important positive outcomes for youth and requires youth to engage in positive social relationships. Yet there is a limited understanding of the social factors most associated with youths' school belonging and limited evidence about whether correlates of school belonging vary for marginalized groups like newcomers compared to majority groups. Sweden provides an important context for investigation of these issues because, over the past two decades, the country has experienced an influx of asylum seekers and educational reforms that have altered the composition and functioning of Swedish secondary schools. This study addresses these gaps by (1) investigating which of eight social factors are associated with school belonging among diverse Swedish youth, and (2) examining whether newcomer status moderates the relationship between social factors and school belonging. Hierarchical regression and moderation analyses were used to analyze data from 14 to 19 year-old (n = 233) newcomers and non-newcomers in Sweden. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the school belonging measure contained two factors: positive perceptions and negative perceptions (reverse coded). For both, stronger school belonging was associated with lower perceived ethnic discrimination. Positive perceptions of school belonging were also associated with more prosocial behaviours and lower emotional problems. Negative perceptions of school belonging were associated with more peer problems. Notably, quantity and quality of peer relationships were not associated with school belonging. There was no consistent evidence of newcomer status moderating the relationship between social factors and school belonging. These results highlight factors associated with school belonging which are modifiable and amenable to intervention or impact by policy-ethnic discrimination, prosocial behaviour, and emotional and peer problems. The absence of moderation by newcomer status suggests that school belonging interventions or related policies are likely to affect newcomer and non-newcomer students similarly.
在学校有归属感与年轻人的重要积极结果有关，这需要年轻人参与积极的社会关系。然而，对于与年轻人的学校归属感最相关的社会因素，以及对于像新来者这样的边缘化群体与大多数群体相比，学校归属感的相关性是否不同，人们的理解有限，证据有限。瑞典为调查这些问题提供了一个重要的背景，因为在过去的二十年里，该国经历了寻求庇护者的涌入和教育改革，这些改革改变了瑞典中学的组成和运作方式。本研究通过以下两种方法来解决这些差距：（1）调查在不同的瑞典年轻人中，有哪些八个社会因素与学校归属感有关；（2）考察新来者的身份是否会调节社会因素与学校归属感之间的关系。本研究采用层次回归和调节分析，对瑞典 14 至 19 岁的新来者和非新来者（n=233）的数据进行了分析。一项探索性因素分析显示，学校归属感的衡量标准包含两个因素：积极的看法和消极的看法（反向编码）。对于这两个因素，更强的学校归属感与较低的感知种族歧视有关。对学校归属感的积极看法也与更多的亲社会行为和较低的情绪问题有关。对学校归属感的消极看法与更多的同伴问题有关。值得注意的是，同伴关系的数量和质量与学校归属感无关。没有一致的证据表明新来者的身份会调节社会因素与学校归属感之间的关系。这些结果突出了与学校归属感相关的因素，这些因素是可以改变的，可以通过干预或政策——种族歧视、亲社会行为和情绪与同伴问题来影响。新来者身份没有调节作用表明，学校归属感干预或相关政策可能会对新来者和非新来者学生产生类似的影响。
