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. 2024 Dec;55(6):1620-1633.
doi: 10.1007/s10578-023-01516-x. Epub 2023 Mar 15.

Sense of Belonging at School and on Social Media in Adolescence: Associations with Educational Achievement and Psychosocial Maladjustment

Matteo Angelo Fabris  1 , Michele Settanni  1 , Claudio Longobardi  2 , Davide Marengo  1
Affiliations

Sense of Belonging at School and on Social Media in Adolescence: Associations with Educational Achievement and Psychosocial Maladjustment

Matteo Angelo Fabris et al. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Belongingness is a key factor in the psychological development and school adjustment of children and adolescents. Going beyond the existing literature, the present study evaluated the association between two sources of belongingness, namely sense of belonging at school (SOBAS) and on social media (SOBOSM), and both psychological maladjustment and educational achievement. Sample consisted of 698 early-to-late adolescents (52.3% female, mean age = 13.79 ± 2.09). Both SOBAS and SOBOSM showed negative direct associations with psychological maladjustment. SOBOSM showed a negative direct association with educational achievement. Social media addiction mediated the links between both SOBAS and SOBOSM and psychological maladjustment and education achievement. Overall, findings suggest that adolescents reporting high sense of belonging both at school and on social media may at lower risk for psychological maladjustment. However, adolescents reporting low SOBAS and high SOBOSM may also be a greater risk of SMA, possibly impacting their psychological health and school adjustement.

Keywords: Belonging at school; Belonging online; Educational achievement; Psychological maladjustment; Sense of belonging; Social media addiction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Diagram for the parallel mediation model
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Total Effect and Parallel Mediation Models: Unstandardized and Standardized Regression Coefficients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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