School connectedness and social exclusion: Can school contexts ameliorate parental depression risks for early adolescent behavior problems?

Home and school contexts represent distinct microsystems, each having an associated set of potential risks and protective factors that contribute to children’s developmental outcomes. In the present study, we analyzed a large, nationally representative sample of children and parents from the United States. Data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class 2010–2011 (ECLS-K: 2011) to examine whether early adolescents’ sense of connectedness or social exclusion in school moderate the relationship between parental depression and students’ emotional and behavioral wellbeing. We estimated multilevel regression models to adjust for the nesting of students (mean age 11 years; N=3,512) within schools (N=274), and to capture the school context at two levels, both students’ individual perceptions and school-level aggregates. Individual-level perceptions of school connectedness and exclusion were more predictive of internalizing and externalizing behaviors than were school-level measures. Cross-level interactions found that school-level connectedness may buffer against risks from parental depression. For early adolescents with depressed parents, attending a school with a one standard deviation (SD) higher level of overall connectedness was associated with 0.66 SDs lower internalizing behavior problems. This link was not significant among those whose parents were not depressed. These results suggest a school-wide culture of connectedness may be protective for early adolescents facing heightened risk factors in the home environment. Findings have implications for policy makers and practitioners who seek to optimize the protective effects of school contexts and ameliorate risks for vulnerable children.