Abstract
Research has found that when compared with civilian students, military-connected students in the United States have more negative mental health outcomes, stemming from the stress of military life events (i.e., deployment). To date, studies on military-connected youth have not examined the role of protective factors within the school environment, such as school climate, in the mental health and well-being of military-connected adolescents. Given this gap in the research on military adolescents, this study draws from a large sample of military and non-military secondary adolescents in military-connected schools (N = 14,943) and examines associations between school climate, military connection, deployment, and mental health. Findings show that multiple components of school climate are associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation and increased likelihood of well-being among students in military-connected schools, after controlling for student demographics, military connection, and deployments. The authors conclude with a discussion of school climate interventions for military-connected youth.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 93-115 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Youth and Society |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was partially supported by the Department of Defense Education Activity Grant HE 1254-10-1-0041.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.
Keywords
- adolescents
- mental health
- military-connected youth
- school climate
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science
- General Social Sciences
