A PROSPECTIVE STUDY INVESTIGATING THE LINKS AMONG CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT, SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENTS : School-Related Variables and Depression

To examine associations between social relationships and school engagement in early secondary school and mental health, substance use, and educational achievement 2-4 years later. School-based longitudinal study of secondary school students, surveyed at school in Year 8 (13-14-years-old) and Year 10 (16-years-old), and 1-year post-secondary school. A total of 2678 Year 8 students (74%) participated in the first wave of data collection. For the school-based surveys, attrition was <10%. Seventy-one percent of the participating Year 8 students completed the post-secondary school survey. Having both good school and social connectedness in Year 8 was associated with the best outcomes in later years. In contrast, participants with low school connectedness but good social connectedness were at elevated risk of anxiety/depressive symptoms (odds ratio [OR]: 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 1.76), regular smoking (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.9), drinking (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.2), and using marijuana (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.6, 2.5) in later years. The likelihood of completing school was reduced for those with either poor social connectedness, low school connectedness, or both. Overall, young people's experiences of early secondary school and their relationships with others may continue to affect their moods, their substance use in later years, and their likelihood of completing secondary school. Having both good school connectedness and good social connectedness is associated with the best outcomes. The challenge is how to promote both school and social connectedness to best achieve these health and learning outcomes.

There is limited prospective research on the relation between school connectedness (i.e., the extent to which students feel accepted, valued, respected, and included in the school) and mental health symptoms in adolescents. A sample of 2,022 students (999 boys and 1,023 girls) ages 12 to 14 years were measured at 2 time points (12 months apart) on school connectedness and mental health symptoms (general functioning, depression, and anxiety symptoms). School connectedness correlated extensively with concurrent mental health symptoms at both time points (between 38% and 55% covariation with depression, 26% to 46% with general functioning, and 9% and 16% for anxiety symptoms). Using hierarchical linear modeling, school connectedness also predicted depressive symptoms 1 year later for both boys and girls, anxiety symptoms for girls, and general functioning for boys, even after controlling for prior symptoms. The reverse, however, was not true: Prior mental health symptoms did not predict school connectedness 1 year later when controlling for prior school connectedness. Results suggest a stronger than previously reported association with school connectedness and adolescent depressive symptoms in particular and a predictive link from school connectedness to future mental health problems.