Mental well-being among students in Norwegian upper secondary schools: the role of teacher support and class belonging

Knowledge about factors in school that can promote adolescents’ mental health is of great value for national health policies and health promotion work. This cross-sectional study investigated levels of mental wellbeing measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and the relationship...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Oda Lekve Brandseth, Malin Torstveit Håvarstein, Helga Bjørnøy Urke, Ellen Haug, Torill Larsen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Norsk Forening for Epidemiologi 2019-05-01
Series:Norsk Epidemiologi
Online Access:https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/norepid/article/view/3050
Description
Summary:Knowledge about factors in school that can promote adolescents’ mental health is of great value for national health policies and health promotion work. This cross-sectional study investigated levels of mental wellbeing measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and the relationship with teacher support and class belonging among 574 Norwegian high school students, aged 16-17 (55.1% boys). The data stem from the COMPLETE-project. Results showed that students reported an average mental wellbeing of 3.50 (SD 0.88, range 1-5), with significant differences across gender, study specialization area and socioeconomic status groups. Class belonging partially mediated the observed relationship between teacher support and mental well-being after adjusting for covariates. The findings indicate that a supportive teacher may be a significant factor for both students’ class belonging and mental well-being, and suggests that school policies and programs should include a focus on promoting teachers’ supportive behavior.
ISSN:0803-2491