TITLE:
Characterization of School Climate Perception in Mexican Middle School Students
AUTHORS:
Mercedes Gabriela Orozco-Solis, Cecilia Colunga-Rodríguez, Julio César Vázquez-Colunga, Claudia Liliana Vazquez-Juárez, Mario Ángel-González, Sarah Lindstrom Johnson, Catherine P. Bradshaw
KEYWORDS:
School Climate, Perceptions, Middle School, Mexican Students
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.13,
November
11,
2016
ABSTRACT: School
climate is a construct that shapes the interactions between school members and
influences its development in different aspects. For the students, school
climate perceptions have been linked to their academic, psychological, and
behavioral development. Despite its relevance, there are only few studies of
Mexican students exploring issues related to school climate. A transversal and
descriptive study was developed. The 2211 participants were students from four
public middle schools. They completed an adapted Spanish version of the MDS3
School Climate Survey, which was composed by 56 items that loaded onto three
scales: engagement and school perception (α = .93), rules and equity (α = .90)
and risk behavior (α = .92). The parents’ consent was obtained through a waiver
of active consent process. Frequencies, averages, standard deviation and
Z-scores were calculated. Mann-Whitney U test and one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) were used to explore differences in the school climate perceptions
based on select student, familial, and school characteristics. Survey results
were categorized into a three-level scale using Z-scores (low, medium, high).
More than 10% of the participants scored in the low level, corresponding to a
negative perception, while for the high level, the student connectedness
subscale obtained one of the highest percentages (21.2%), followed by the Risk
behavior scale (20.3%) and the school rules subscale (20.3%). There were
statistically significant differences found in the school climate perception
for gender, age, mother school level and school shifts (i.e., AM vs. PM)
variables. We can conclude that a high percentage of the participants have a
negative perception of school climate and consider that there are risk
behaviors among the students in their schools. There were several significant
differences in the school climate perceptions by sociodemographic, familial and
school variables.