Supportive and motivating environments in school: Main factors to make well-being and learning a reality

Abstract

The author examined the relationships between (i) school-related social support from parents, teachers, and classmates, respectively, and students' perceived life satisfaction; and (ii) school-related social support from teachers and classmates and self-reported academic initiative. The analyses were based on data from nationally representative samples of 13-and 15-year-old students from the Norwegian part of the sixth and seventh World Health Organization (WHO) international survey of Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC). The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyzing approach was employed. The findings indicate that school-related social support is positively related to students' perceived life satisfaction and self-reported academic initiative. In two-level SEM analysis, a latent factor comprising pedagogical caring and autonomy support was substantially related to self-reported academic initiative at the class level.