2022-12-01, Kassis, Wassilis, Janousch, Clarissa, Sidler, Petra, Aksoy, Dilan, Favre, Céline Anne, Ertanir, Beyhan, Nazari, Nabi

Adolescence is a developmental stage with high risks in terms of psychological challenges and adjustments related to subjective well-being. Thus far, the findings reported a general decrease in school-related well-being over time. We considered well-being a multidimensional and latent construct that included both feeling good and functioning well at the individual level, and focused on the interplay between hedonic and eudemonic factors. Data of = 377 high school students in Switzerland were used by conducting an online longitudinal study with two waves. Baseline data was gathered in autumn 2019 and the subsequent time point occurred 1 year later (2020; grades seven and eight). By applying a person-oriented analytical approach via latent class and latent transition analyses, we were able to identify and compare longitudinally three distinct well-being patterns and the respective trajectories. Regarding the distribution of the well-being patterns for both waves, significant changes over time were identified: particularly from wave 1 to wave 2, where there was an increase for the low and high well-being patterns, yet a decrease for the middle pattern. Comparing the stability of the respective patterns over time, the high well-being level showed the highest stability of all identified patterns. Multinomial logistic regression of covariates to the identified latent status membership established for both waves showed low but significant effects of socio-demographic variables. At wave 1, having a migration background was associated with a significant increase of being in a low versus high well-being level pattern. At wave 2, being female was associated with a significant increase of being in a low versus high and in a middle versus high well-being pattern.

2021-09-13, Kassis, Wassilis, Govaris, Christos, Chouvati, Raia, Sidler, Petra, Janousch, Clarissa, Ertanir, Beyhan

We detected three very similar school well-being patterns among migrant and native students for both countries. The highest school well-being pattern for migrant and native students is derived from a combination of low levels of fear/depression and high levels of self-determination, self-efficacy, and self-esteem in conjunction with high levels of life satisfaction, general well-being, and satisfaction with grades at school. Overall, we found that higher levels of social support, as introduced via teacher support and resilience, play a great role in determining the school well-being level that a young person achieves.

2021-09, Sidler, Petra, Kassis, Wassilis, Makarova, Elena, Janousch, Clarissa

Assessment of acculturation attitudes usually has focused on the importance of two dimensions: first, immigrants’ maintenance of cultural heritage and, second, immigrants’ adoption of the majority culture. Because acculturation is a reciprocal interaction, we extended a bidimensional scale to four dimensions to assess mutual acculturation. Given the importance of the social context for acculturation and schools as a crucial context for immigrant pupils’ acculturation, the scale extension was validated within the context of school. We hypothesised that acculturation attitudes are held not only towards immigrant pupils but also towards native pupils and towards schools’ responsibility to support intercultural contact. The study sample comprised 364 secondary school pupils in Swiss multicultural schools. Using exploratory structural equation modelling, we validated four distinct dimensions of acculturation attitudes: attitudes towards immigrant pupils’ (a) heritage culture maintenance and (b) adoption of the dominant culture and attitudes towards (c) native pupils acquiring cultural knowledge and (d) schools enabling intercultural contact. We conclude that the proposed four-dimensional scale is a valid tool for assessing attitudes towards mutual acculturation within the school context and that acculturation attitudes are held not only towards immigrant pupils but also towards native pupils and schools.