Adolescents' psychological well-being at school: The impact of individual and group characteristics, and the role of autonomy support and peer relatedness

Learning environment and school situations can trigger several affective states, which can include extreme feelings such as intense happiness or hatred. This study, based on a random sample (N= 26,470) of the Italian tenth grade students investigated: (1) the multilevel impact of individual and group characteristics on students’ psychological well-being; (2) the mediational role of autonomy support and peer relatedness. In the first part of the study the following factors were considered at the individual level: gender, immigrant background (first-generation and second-generation immigrants), socioeconomic background and achievement before entering high school. At the group level, the analysis included class size and compositional variables (i.e. gender ratio, immigrant ratio, classroom socioeconomic level, classroom achievement level before entering high school). The results of the first part of the study show 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 reveals that while individual socioeconomic status and achievement have a positive impact on students’ psychological well-being, the effect of the two variables at the classroom level is negative. Group socioeconomic status and group achievement before entering high school therefore show a negative compositional effect on psychological well-being. The impact of immigrant classroom composition seems to be limited to positive affect and dependent on students’ immigrant generation. All the compositional variables taken into consideration have effects over and above what would be predictable on the basis of individual characteristics and explain a significant amount of between classrooms variance in positive and negative affect. Finally, students in smaller classrooms show more psychological well-being at school. In the second part of the study the mediational role of teacher autonomy support and of peer relatedness will be examined by means of a doubly latent model analysis.