The relationship between students' sense of their school as a community and their involvement in problem behaviors.
OBJECTIVE
There has been relatively little research on the contributions of school context to developmental outcomes. This study examined relationships between students' sense of the school as a community and their involvement in problem behaviors.


METHODS
Participants were an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 1434 fifth and sixth grade students from 24 elementary schools around the United States. Data were analyzed by hierarchical linear regression.


RESULTS
The major finding was that, with several relevant student- and school-level characteristics controlled, schools with higher average sense-of-community scores had significantly lower average student drug use and delinquency. Caution is warranted in inferring causality, however, owing to the cross-sectional design.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that school context may moderate relationships between individual risk and protective factors and developmental outcomes, and that schools that are experienced as communities may enhance students' resiliency.
Battistich
V
V
Developmental Studies Center, Oakland, CA 94606-5300, USA.
Hom
A
A
D002648:Child; D003256:Community Participation; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011203:Poverty; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States