Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 21, Issue 4, 2019, Pages 761-766

Support for Autonomy at School Predicts Immigrant Adolescents’ Psychological Well-being (Article)

Alivernini F. , Cavicchiolo E.* , Manganelli S. , Chirico A. , Lucidi F.
  • a National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, Rome, 00153, Italy
  • b National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, Rome, 00153, Italy
  • c National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, Rome, 00153, Italy
  • d Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, Rome, 00185, Italy
  • e Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, Rome, 00185, Italy

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between teacher support at school intended to promote students’ autonomy and immigrant adolescents’ psychological well-being. A structural equation model was tested on 3130 immigrant adolescents who attended a representative sample of 654 Italian high schools. Gender, socioeconomic status, previous school achievement and immigrant generation were included in the analysis as control variables. Results showed that when teachers are perceived as adopting an approach that is supportive of autonomy, immigrant adolescents report significantly higher levels of psychological well-being. Gender appears to be the most relevant background factor, with girls being more at risk than boys as regards mental health. Overall, our findings suggest that interventions of enacted support by teachers at school that aim to foster students’ autonomy would be an effective approach for protecting against mental illness in immigrant adolescents. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

background factors Teacher autonomy support Mental health Psychological well-being immigrant adolescents

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85056874370&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-018-0839-x&partnerID=40&md5=8c95e16c5bab3215962ef83ae978e4cb
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-018-0839-x
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English