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Preliminary investigation of the psychological sense of school membership scale with primary school students in a cross-cultural context

  • Rhea Wagle
  • , Erin Dowdy
  • , Chunyan Yang
  • , Olympia Palikara
  • , Susana Castro
  • , Karen Nylund-Gibson
  • , Michael J. Furlong*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale has been used for more than 20 years to measure students' sense of school belonging, yet its psychometric properties have had limited examination with pre-adolescent children. This study investigated the utility and psychometrics of the PSSM in three primary school samples from the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. Exploratory factor analysis revealed good fit for a unidimensional factor structure in the US sample, which was subsequently confirmed in all three samples. Partial invariance across all three samples and full invariance across pairwise samples (United States and United Kingdom; United Kingdom and China) was found. Path analyses revealed significant positive relations of the PSSM total belonging score with gratitude and prosocial behavior, and significant negative relations with symptoms of distress. Future directions and implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)568-586
Number of pages19
JournalSchool Psychology International
Volume39
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

  • cross-cultural
  • primary school age
  • Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale
  • school belonging
  • school membership

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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