No-Risk, At-Risk, and High-Risk Middle School and High School Students: Contributions of the Quadripartite Model for Psychological Distress Prevention Programs.

Background/objectives: Students' psychological health problems have been widely studied for a long time. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the additional challenges related to the need for individual and contextual adjustment, a more comprehensive approach to psychological health and well-being is needed. The main goal of the present study was to identify the individual and contextual factors that could discriminate middle school and high school students based on well-being and psychological symptoms.

Methods: In this study, carried out within the scope of the second wave of the study "Psychological Health and Wellbeing | School Observatory", promoted by the Ministry of Education, 3037 students from different regions and levels of public education in Portugal, 49.5% female, aged between 9 and 18 years, participated by completing a research protocol after informed consent was given.

Results: Cluster analysis allowed the identification of four groups based on the scores of well-being and psychological symptoms: complete psychological health, incomplete psychological distress, incomplete psychological health and complete psychological distress. The analysis of discriminant variables additionally showed relevant differences between the two extreme groups: complete psychological health students reported higher socio-emotional skills, whereas complete psychological distress students reported higher stress and anxiety scores and low life satisfaction.

Conclusions: The obtained results highlight the need for early identification of psychological distress using effective measures to prevent psychological symptoms and to promote socio-emotional skills in the school context.