School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: multi-group cross-lagged analyses

Sharmila Vaz; Marita Falkmer; Richard Parsons; Anne Elizabeth Passmore; Timothy Parkin; Torbjörn Falkmer

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099576

School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: multi-group cross-lagged analyses

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 26;9(6):e99576. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099576. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Sharmila Vaz¹, Marita Falkmer², Richard Parsons³, Anne Elizabeth Passmore⁴, Timothy Parkin⁴, Torbjörn Falkmer⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Centre for Research into Disability and Society, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
² School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; School of Education and Communication, CHILD programme, Institution of Disability Research Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
³ School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, and School of Pharmacy, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; School of Occupational Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia; Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University and Pain and Rehabilitation Centre, UHL, County Council, Linköping, Sweden.

Abstract

The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Developmental Disabilities / epidemiology*
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health*
Schools*
Students / psychology

Grants and funding

This project was funded by a Doctoral scholarship provided by the Centre for Research into Disability and Society and the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.