Family, peer and school connectedness in final year secondary school students

The study aim was to investigate Australian Year 12 students’ sense of connectedness to their schools, families, and peers, and examine associations between connectedness and emotional wellbeing. Year 12 students (492 male, 449 female) from 10 secondary schools in Victoria, Australia participated in Phase 1 of the study. Of these, 204 participants (82 male, 122 female) returned surveys 1 year later; 175 of these were attending tertiary education institutions. The study found high levels of depression, anxiety and stress among Year 12 students, with higher negative affect associated with lower levels of family, peer and school connectedness. Negative affect 1 year after leaving school was predicted by negative affect and peer connectedness at Year 12. Results suggest there are significant numbers of at-risk young people in their final year of school, who feel lonely and disconnected from peers, and who maintain concerning levels of depression, anxiety and stress in first year of university. In Australia, Year 12 (the final year of secondary schooling) is considered to be a particularly stressful and difficult year for students (Pitman & Jukes, 1982). Results are used for competitive tertiary selection, exacerbating the pressures associated with the adolescent transitions characteristic of this stage of life. Stress, depression and anxiety have been identified in many young people as they complete Year 12 studies (Kouzma & Kennedy, 2002, 2004; Smith & Sinclair, 2000). Such negative affect may impact on young people’s goals for success and render them at risk for even more severe psychological difficulties. Reports suggest that the rate of depressive symptoms among Australian young people is high (e.g., between 15 and 40%; National Health and Medical Research Council, 1997), so that the extra stresses of Year 12 studies may act cumulatively with the stresses and anxieties of adolescent development and adolescent – adult transitions. A potential protective factor in handling the stresses of Year 12 in particular and adolescence in general is connectedness, which can be defined as a sense of being cared for, personally accepted, valued and supported by others, as well as enjoyment of and feeling attached to family, friends, school and the wider community (Lee & Robbins, 1995; Resnick, Harris, & Blum, 1993; Rutter, 1993). Resnick et al. (1997) report that the four main protective factors promoting resilience in young people are family connectedness, school connectedness, religious affiliation or spirituality, and belief in the norms of society. Additionally, the more a young person has a sense of connectedness to their family, peers and school, the less likely it is that they will engage in high-risk behaviours such as alcohol and drug abuse, or to develop depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts (Resnick et al., 1997). Baumeister and Leary (1995) characterise the need to belong or feel connected as ‘‘a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive and significant interpersonal relationships’’ (p. 497). They argued that belonging is a fundamental motivation, functions in a broad variety of settings and influences cognitive and emotional patterns, and that failure to fulfil the need to belong creates longlasting pathological consequences. Of particular significance is family connectedness. Young people who feel close to their parents Correspondence: Professor S. Moore, Faculty of Life and Social Science, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. E-mail: smoore@groupwise.swin.edu.au Australian Psychologist, March 2008; 43(1): 27 – 37 ISSN 0005-0067 print/ISSN 1742-9544 online ! The Australian Psychological Society Ltd Published by Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/00050060701668637 D ow nl oa de d A t: 03 :0 7 23 F eb ru ar y 20 08 regularly exhibit more positive psychosocial adjustment, behavioural competence, and wellbeing (Barber & Olsen, 1997; Nada Raja, McGee, & Stanton, 1992; Paterson, Pryor, & Field, 1995). Connectedness to family has been consistently related to higher self-esteem and sense of belonging in school and in the community (e.g., Chubb & Fertman, 1992). Greenberg, Siegel, and Leitch (1983) found that for young people, the effects of stressful life circumstances were buffered by positively perceived relationships to parents. Nada Raja et al. (1992) in a large-scale longitudinal study of nearly 1000 15-yearolds reported that perceived attachment to parents was positively associated with psychological health and wellbeing. Adolescents who reported poorer relationships with parents had more conduct problems, inattention, depression and anxiety. Thiede-Call and Mortimer (2001) also linked poor parent – child relationships to poor school performance, problem behaviour, depression and low selfesteem among young people. Good family relationships may not be enough to buffer young people through their developmental milestones; peers and school interactions of a positive nature are also likely to be important. Glover, Burns, Butler, and Patton (1998) undertook longitudinal research designed to investigate the significance of school and general social environments on young people’s mental health. Thirteenand 14-year-olds from 26 secondary schools (N1⁄4 2678) in Victoria, Australia were surveyed for depression, deliberate self-harm, substance use and abuse and smoking. Measures of the social environment included students’ perceptions of security and victimisation at school; feelings of connectedness to peers, family and teachers, and the level of participation in school life. The first wave of data collection illustrated the associations between students’ perceptions of the school environment and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that more than 40% of young people felt that they did not have anyone in or outside of school who they perceived knew them well, or who they could trust. Young people reporting low connectedness were two to three times more likely to experience depressive symptoms compared to peers who indicated feeling more connected. As well, young people who reported that they did not feel noticed by teachers or provided with positive feedback were twice as likely to report symptoms of depression. Young people who reported that they were not treated in a friendly manner at school were four times more likely to report depression. Measurement of the quality of school life and achievement in the final year of secondary schooling in 44 Catholic schools in New South Wales, Australia was undertaken by Mok and Flynn (1997). Four thousand and forty-nine Year 12 students were surveyed regarding their perceptions of school life across the domains of satisfaction and alienation from school, relationships with teachers and peers, sense of achievement, relevance of curriculum, self-esteem and sense of identity. The findings showed that perceived quality of school life had a significant impact on academic achievement. Students who achieved good outcomes on their HSC exams were those who indicated having higher satisfaction with schooling, were less alienated towards their schools, had positive relationships with their teachers and peers, higher self-esteem and felt school was relevant to their future lives. A small body of literature on school belonging has consistently reported that a perception of connectedness to one’s school is associated with positive psychological, academic and behavioural outcomes. Research undertaken by Anderman (2002) investigated the relationships between perceived school belongingness and depression, optimism, social rejection, school problems and grade point average (GPA). The Add Health in-school survey data (Udry, 2003) were used, with a sample size of 58,653 students from 132 schools. Findings showed that higher reported levels of a sense of belonging to the school were associated with less depression and social rejection, fewer school problems, greater optimism and a higher GPA. Additionally, Bonny, Britto, Klostermann, Hornung, and Slap (2000) undertook a study to identify factors that differentiated young people who did and did not feel connected to their school. Their findings indicated that among 4773 7th – 12thgraders, decreasing school connectedness was associated with declining health status, increased visits to the school nurse, cigarette/alcohol use and an absence of extracurricular activities. Overall, the research on school connectedness shows a strong link between young people who feel that they belong to their school and levels of engagement, enjoyment of school and investment of themselves in the process of learning compared to young people who do not have a sense of connectedness (Goodenow, 1992; Osterman, 2000). Perceived quality of school life partly overlaps with perceived quality of peer relationships, but these factors are not identical. Peer relationship quality is both broader and narrower, not necessarily relating to teacher interactions or school success, but including networks and interactions outside of the school. Connectedness to peers appears essential for healthy development among young people. Those who experience problematic peer relationships are considered at risk for a number of psychological and behavioural difficulties during development (Parker & Asher, 1993). They are more likely to withdraw from school, be low achievers, have a variety of 28 K. McGraw et al.