Academic and Psychological Functioning in Late Adolescence: The Importance of School Belonging
Abstract
Few researchers have considered the influence of school context, an important construct at earlier ages, on late adolescents' college adjustment. In a sample of second-semester freshmen (N = 266), the authors explored associations between a sense of school belonging and academic and psychological adjustment. Students' reports of belonging at the university as well as in high school were both significant in predicting current academic (e.g., grades, academic competence) and psychological adjustment (i.e., self-worth, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors), even after controlling for other important demographic and relationship factors. Last, the authors found that parental education (i.e., whether the participant was a first-generation college student) interacted with high school belonging in predicting externalizing problem behaviors.
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Consequently, students may struggle to develop a sense of belonging and perform worse academically.
“Consequently, students may struggle to develop a sense of belonging and perform worse academically [86, 92].”
Cites
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What Schools Need to Know About Fostering School Belonging: a Meta-analysis
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- Authors
- Pittman, L. D., & Richmond, A.
- Affiliations
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Experimental Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-07
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 270-290
- ISSN
- 0022-0973 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-0683
- OpenAlex
- W2032863639
- Cited by
- 493
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 22.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Experimental Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Keywords
- school belonging, late adolescence, college adjustment, academic adjustment, psychological adjustment, self-worth, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, first-generation college students, parental education, university belonging, academic competence
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