Perceptions of School Climate Shape Adolescent Health Behavior: A Longitudinal Multischool Study

Adolescent behaviors and academic outcomes are thought to be shaped by school climate. We sought to identify longitudinal associations between school climate measures and downstream health and academic outcomes.

Data from a longitudinal survey of public high school students in Los Angeles were analyzed. Eleventh-grade health and academic outcomes (dependent variables, eg, substance use, delinquency, risky sex, bullying, standardized exams, college matriculation), were modeled as a function of 10th-grade school climate measures (independent variables: institutional environment, student-teacher relationships, disciplinary style), controlling for baseline outcome measures and student/parental covariates.

The 1114 student respondents (87.8% retention), were 46% male, 90% Latinx, 87% born in the United States, and 40% native English speakers. Greater school order and teacher respect for students were associated with lower odds of multiple high risk behaviors including 30-day alcohol use (odds ratio [OR] 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.72, 0.92] and OR 0.73; [0.62, 0.85]) and 30-day cannabis use (OR 0.74; [0.59, 0.91] and OR 0.76; [0.63, 0.92]). Neglectful disciplinary style was associated with multiple poor health and academic outcomes while permissive disciplinary style was associated with favorable academic outcomes.

School health practitioners may prospectively leverage school environment, teacher-student relationships, and disciplinary style to promote health and learning.

Our findings identify specific modifiable aspects of the school environment with critical implications for life course health.