School belonging in adolescents: Exploring the associations with school achievement and internalising and externalising problems

Aim(s) School belonging is critically important for both school-based outcomes and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents. The purpose of this study is to present further validation evidence for the School Belongingness Scale (SBS) and investigate the predictive effect of the school belonging on school achievement and mental health outcomes (i.e. internalising and externalising problems) in elementary school students. Method Participants included 223 students from a public elementary school in an urban city, Turkey (51.1 per cent female and 48.9 per cent male ranging in age from 10 to15 years (M = 12.09; SD = 1.03)). Findings Findings of the study revealed that the scale had excellent data-model fit statistics, supporting the higher-order school belonging latent structure, comprising of two first-order constructs (i.e. social inclusion and exclusion), adequate–to–strong factor loadings, and adequate latent construct (H) and internal (α) reliability coefficients. Further outcomes indicated that school belonging had a strong predictive effect on school achievement, internalising and externalising behaviours among elementary school students. Limitations While the study utilised a cross-sectional approach and is unable to provide causality, the preliminary findings have implications for schools and future research. Conclusions The study results provide further evidence supporting the impacts of school belonging in promoting youth academic functioning and mental health.