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Poster #77 - School Climate, Victimization, Academic and Mental Health Outcomes among Elementary School Students in China

Sat, March 23, 4:15 to 5:30pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

School climate “reflects the norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures at a school” (National School Climate Council, 2007, para. 3) and provides a context for students to be engaged in their learning. School climate is a multifaceted construct and includes relationships between teachers and students, fairness of school rules, clarity of expectations, school safety, respect for diversity and school-wide engagement (Bear, Gaskins, Blank, & Chen, 2011). Consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1977), positive school climate provides a safe, caring environmental context to foster positive youth development and protect against negative outcomes.
Although positive school climate has been identified as a protective factor for youth outcomes in studies conducted in North America, few longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between school climate and student outcomes in China. Chinese culture values education and social harmony (Le, 2005), and holds high respect towards teachers (Le et al., 1998), which tends to foster a positive school climate and discourages bullying/victimization (Yang et al., 2013). However, bullying victimization has recently become a growing concern in Chinese schools, with about 22-26% of students reporting being a victim of bullying, a rate similar to those found in U.S. studies (Cheng et al., 2010).
This study explored the relationship between students’ perceived school climate, bullying victimization, academic achievement and both positive (i.e. covitality) and negative (i.e. internalizing symptoms) mental health outcomes. Specifically, this study examined whether positive school climate predicted lower perceived bullying victimization, higher levels of covitality, lower rates of internalizing symptoms, and better grade point averages over time for Chinese elementary school students.
Survey data were collected from 1150 3rd to 6th grade students (Mage = 10.27 years, SD = 1.03 years, 55% boys) from five elementary schools in the Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces of China. Students completed the Delaware School Climate Survey-Student-Chinese Version (Bear et al., 2011), the Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale-Student- Chinese Version (Bear et al., 2016), the Social Emotional Health Survey- Primary-Chinese Version (Furlong et al., 2013) and the Me and My School Questionnaire (Deighton et al., 2013) at two time points, six months apart.
Results showed that 41.57% of students at time 1 and 35.83% of students at time 2 reported experiencing at least one type of bullying victimization (at least once a month). Regression results showed that higher rating of school climate factors significantly predicted lower bullying victimization, better mental health (lower rates of internalizing symptoms and higher levels of covitality), and better grades six months later. This is consistent with earlier studies conducted in North America showing that positive school climate is related to better academic grades (Wang et al., 2014), mental health (Leadbeater et al., 2015), and less bullying victimization (Espelage, Polanin, & Low, 2014). Our results suggest that it is important to foster a positive school climate in order to prevent bullying and promote positive youth development among elementary school students in China.

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