Life satisfaction and school experience in adolescence: the impact of school supportiveness, peer belonging and the role of academic self-efficacy and victimization

Abstract

Several factors influence adolescents’ life satisfaction. At school, peer relatedness and school supportiveness, as well as individual self-perceptions such as academic self-efficacy, promote life satisfaction. Yet school is a context within which risks such as victimization can occur. The aim of this study was to test a model of relations of school factors predicting life satisfaction. We tested the mediator effects of victimization and academic self-efficacy between school supportiveness and peer belonging and life satisfaction. Participants were 2200 6th and 7th grades children attending middle school in Southern Switzerland. Data have been collected with the Middle Years Development Instrument questionnaire. Results showed that the sense of peer belonging and a supportive school environment have a positive effect on children academic self-efficacy and life satisfaction, and reduce the probability of victimization. Victimization, in turn, negatively affects life satisfaction and academic self-efficacy, while academic self-efficacy has a positive effect on life satisfaction.

Keywords:

• Life satisfaction
• school experiences
• adolescence

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Richard Kruk, Psychology, University of Manitoba, Canada

SUBJECTS:

• Educational Psychology
• Positive Psychology
• School Psychology

Acknowledgement

Authors would like to thank all the students who participated in the data collection; this study would not have been possible without them. We would also like to thank: the educational authorities of the Canton of Ticino and the directors of the schools, for the support provided; Professor Kimberly Schonert-Reichl and Dr. Martin Guhn for sharing and exchanging in the use of the MDI questionnaire; our colleagues for their collaboration during the research process; and our Department for the support provided. The SUPSI ethics committee states that the presented study meets national and international guidelines for research on humans and that the requirement for the informed consent is waived by the ethics committee. We also declare that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luciana Castelli

Authors have been working at the Competence Centre for Innovation and Research on Education Systems (CIRSE) of the Department of Education and Learning (DFA) of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) for more than 10 years. Their research interests focus on wellbeing in education systems and the factors that enhance it. The study here presented is part of a project conducted for several years on preadolescents wellbeing in middle schools. The general aim of the project was to measure different variables associated with wellbeing in pre-adolescents and, in collaboration with trainee teachers, to promote pedagogical strategies to improve wellbeing in the classroom at an individual and group level.