School Effectiveness and School Improvement
2019

Students’ psychological well-being and its multilevel relationship with immigrant background, gender, socioeconomic status, achievement, and class size (Article)

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

Abstract

School situations trigger affective states that influence students’ achievement and well-being. In the present study, we investigated, on the basis of a sample of 26,470 high-school students and 1,472 classrooms, the relationship of individual characteristics (immigrant background, gender, socioeconomic status, and achievement) as well as classroom characteristics (group composition and size) with students’ feelings at school. The results showed that females, low achievers, immigrants, and low-SES students are more at risk of psychological distress at school, with gender and achievement being the most important factors. A doubly latent model analysis revealed that whereas individual socioeconomic status and achievement have a positive impact on students’ feelings, the effect of the two variables at the classroom level is negative. The impact of immigrant classroom composition seems to be limited to positive affect and dependent on students’ immigrant generation. Finally, students in smaller classrooms show more psychological well-being at school. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Author Keywords

classroom size Socioeconomic status Immigrant background Gender Achievement Psychological well-being

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85071426331&doi=10.1080%2f09243453.2019.1642214&partnerID=40&md5=67bea5b576d44d32301c6b585a493062
DOI: 10.1080/09243453.2019.1642214
ISSN: 09243453
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English