Experience of attachment to school: The relevance of a person-centred approach for identifying adjustment difficulties and gender - and age-related differences during early adolescence
Experience of attachment to school: The relevance of a person-centred approach for identifying adjustment difficulties and gender - and age-related differences during early adolescence

Summary/Abstract: Feelings of attachment to school represent one of the main adjustment-related factors during early adolescence. The aim of this study was to identify different patterns of students’ experience of attachment to school through a person-centred approach by analysing differences in socio-emotional and academic adjustment scores and gender- and age-related cluster composition. To this end, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to an Italian sample of early adolescents attending 15 public middle schools. In total, 2,916 students were included in the study. Cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were run to identify patterns of students’ attachment and differences in socio-emotional and academic adjustments. Chi-square statistic was developed to detect differences between gender and age groups. The cluster analysis revealed the presence of three clusters which were differently associated with socio-emotional and academic wellbeing, where the more functional attachment profile was associated with better adjustment scores. Moreover, the analysis revealed that females and younger students were in the more functional cluster. These findings highlight the relevance of the person-centred approach for identifying meaningful early adolescents’ feelings of attachment to school, which can facilitate identifying adjustment difficulties and assessing the quality of school life.

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