Global Patterns of the Relationship Between School Belongingness and Reading Literacy: A Moderating Effect of Youth Participation in Activism

• In Event: Protest, Democracy and Education

Proposal

Many studies have shown a positive correlation between school belongingness and academic achievement (Anderman, 2003; Osterman, 2000; Pittman & Richmond, 2007), but it is unclear whether reading literacy has the same results. According to PISA, "reading literacy" refers to a broad range of cognitive abilities, including basic decoding, knowledge of words, grammar, and other larger language and textual structures and features, as well as knowledge of the world (OECD, 2016). The reading literacy skills required for personal development, academic achievement, and citizenship 20 years ago differ from those needed today. According to previous research, reading literacy is a crucial component of academic achievement and is also linked to other literacy skills, such as scientific and mathematical literacy (Firat & Koyuncu, 2021).
In addition, in recent years, a growing number of young people worldwide have become more vocal and passionate about the need to consider and address local and global environmental issues (Brennan et al., 2022). However, the relationship between youth organizing or activism and academic success is inconsistent (Conner et al., 2023; Linder et al., 2019; Shah, 2011; Taines, 2012). Numerous studies have documented the benefits of youth participation in organizations and activism, such as learning youth leadership, communication, and civic skills (Conner et al., 2023). Another report found that participation in youth organizing helped young people cultivate a critical social analysis, engaged in civic and political action at higher rates than the national sample, and increased their academic motivation and goals (Shah, 2011). In contrast, studies have revealed the adverse effects of youth activism, such as burnout, physical stress, and emotional costs (Linder et al., 2019). Conner et al. (2022) also found insight into how activism costs negatively impact youth, most notably through burnout. These results indicate that the relationship and the effects of youth activism are complex and require further research. Therefore, I investigated whether participating in youth activism alters the association between school belongingness and reading literacy.
For this paper, I used STATA software and PISA 2018 data. In PISA 2018, school belonging is a part of the subjective well-being index, so students were asked whether they agreed ("strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," "strongly agree") with the following statements about their school: "I feel like an outsider (or left out of things) at school"; "I make friends easily at school"; "I feel like I belong at school"; "I feel awkward and out of place in my school"; "Other students seem to like me"; and "I feel lonely at school." Second, Ten plausible reading literacy scores were presented in the 2018 PISA results, and I analyzed all ten plausible reading literacy values in this investigation to ensure robustness. Lastly, I utilized two student involvement index items from the PISA 2018 student survey indicating youth participation in activism. Students were questioned whether they participated in activities (1=yes, 0=no) as a dichotomous measurement: (1) "I participate in activities promoting equality between men and women (act 1)," and (2) "I participate in activities in favor of environmental protection (act 2)."
I began by analyzing descriptive statistics, such as the country-specific mean scores for a sense of belonging at school and reading literacy. Then, I measured the relationship between school belongingness and reading literacy scores using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression in 80 countries to examine cross-national patterns. I also added covariates and reran the multiple linear regression to determine whether the relationship between school belonging and reading literacy holds after controlling for the covariates. I eliminated nations that did not have observation items for specific items in multiple linear regression models. Next, I employ regression analysis with the moderator variable to confirm the moderating effect of two forms of youth activism participation.
My analysis of PISA 2018 data showed the moderating effect of youth activism on the relationship between school belongingness and reading literacy. There were some interesting aspects of the study that are worth noting. It was found that 34 countries had a significant positive relationship between school belonging and reading literacy with covariates. However, several nations, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, show that as school belongingness increases, reading literacy scores decrease. This result differs from what Osterman (2000) found in several works of literature that discovered a positive relationship between school belongingness and academic achievement. This finding suggests that other factors, such as cultural differences, teaching methods, or socioeconomic status, may affect the relationship between school belongingness and reading literacy. It may also illustrate that reading literacy has a different value from academic achievement in previous studies.
Second, youth participation in activism moderated the association between school belonging and reading literacy in some countries. Two countries demonstrated that students who participated in activism had weaker relationships between school belongingness and reading literacy than those who did not. Conversely, in 19 other countries, students who participated in activities promoting gender equality or environmental protection had strengthened connections between school belonging and reading literacy. This result suggests that the influence of youth activism on reading literacy and a sense of school belonging varies across cultural contexts. Furthermore, youth activism can positively and negatively affect academic achievement and students' well-being, as noted by various studies (Conner et al., 2023; Linder et al., 2019; Shah, 2011; Taines, 2012; Shah, 2011). This contradictory influence may affect the current study's moderating effect on youth activism.
Lastly, this study found no significant difference in school belongingness between Western and Asian countries, in contrast to the findings of Cortina et al. (2017). According to this study, Ireland had a slightly below-average mean score, while Indonesia scored just above the average mean for school belongingness. Also, Korea ranked seventh, Saudi Arabia ranked nineteenth, and Japan ranked twenty-second out of 77 nations for school belongingness. Differences in the result may be due to Cortina et al. (2017) using different measures of school belongingness and PISA datasets from 2003, while the current study used PISA 2018. This distinction could demonstrate the evolution of school belonging scores over time in certain countries from 2003 to 2018.

Author

• Sangeun Samantha Lee, The Pennsylvania State University