School connectedness: Comparison between adolescent students with emotional and behavioural disorders and general education students

Adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) continue to struggle in the school environment. They may have difficulty connecting to their school environment as their engagement in challenging behaviour may have led to frequent school removal and high rates of school dropout, resulting in a breakdown of their school connectedness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate levels of school connectedness for adolescents with EBD attending self-contained classrooms and compare them to adolescents in general education. The School Connectedness Questionnaire (SCQ), measuring school bonding, school attachment, school engagement, and school climate, was administered to 50 students with EBD and to 50 general education students (n = 100). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. The results indicated that of the four domains of school connectedness, students with EBD reported significantly higher levels of school climate. These youth also reported significant differences on four specific items representing three of the four construct domains. The results indicate that adolescents with EBD may experience school differently. Researchers should continue to examine specially designed programs for students with EBD that emphasise explicit behavioural and academic expectations and social and emotional skill development and its impact on school connectedness for adolescents with EBD.