School as an Important Developmental Environment

Considering the large body of research on the impact of family function and dysfunction on adolescent health, questions arise about the way other environmental contexts can shape adolescent development. More precisely, do school-related factors impact functioning in adolescents with depressive symptoms? And if so, in which ways does this occur? Several researchers have applied themselves to investigate the association between factors related to the school environment and mental health.

Typically, factors of the school environment are divided into two broad categories:

structural characteristics (e.g., type of school, size of school, size of classes, teacher qualifications) and psychosocial characteristics. Research on structural characteristics suggests only very weak effects on adolescent health and development (Dür, Fürth, &

Griebler, 2006). Although studies have provided some support for an association between mental health problems and psychosocial characteristics, such as the perceived school climate (e.g., Buddeberg-Fischer, Klaghofer, Leuthold, & Buddeberg, 2000; Gazelle, 2006; Kuperminc, Leadbeater, & Blatt, 2001; Loukas & Robinson, 2004), the findings are very limited. This might, for one, be due to a lack in conceptual clarity. Specifically, to date there is no universally applied definition of what actually comprises this “climate”.

Thus, studies differ significantly in the concepts investigated. Further, usually the subjective perspective of those involved is emphasized (Van Houtte, 2005). Accordingly, results more likely represent depressed adolescents’ idiosyncratic perceptions of climate.

However, the understanding of school environments that promote adolescents’ individual functioning requires a multilevel framework for thinking simultaneously about individuals’ development within schools and classrooms. Thus to study the impact of the school environment on depressed adolescents’ functioning, there is a need for alternative approaches to conceptualization and construction of measurement and analytical models consistent with multilevel systems. Clearly further research efforts are required to answer the questions of whether and how the school environment can impact depressed adolescents’ functioning. Nevertheless, the school, alongside the home environment is an environment of fundamental importance to adolescents’ development.

From the time young children first enter primary school until they complete formal schooling as adolescents or young adults, they spend more time in school than in any other place or institution outside their homes (Eccles & Roeser, 2009; Rutter et al., 1979).

School is not only relevant because of the dissemination of curricular skills and knowledge but also because it is an important learning environment with regard to individual and social factors (Bergmüller, 2007). These observations dovetail with findings from a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Presenting longitudinally assessed data from nine OECD countries, the report entitled “Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills” (OECD, 2015) emphasizes the importance of schools for fostering children’s social and emotional skills.

However, not all adolescents are able to deal with the challenges they are confronted with in school in a positive and well-adjusted way. A seminal theoretical concept often utilized as a framework for studies exploring the association between school and adjustment difficulties in the developmental psychology literature is the stage–

environment fit model by Eccles and Midgley (1989). The approach taken in this model allows for an integration of an adolescent’s individual psychological development (stage) and the experience in an important developmental context such as the school (environment), as well as the dynamic of changing developmental needs as individuals move through the school system. The authors argue that optimal development occurs when the needs of a developing individual and the opportunities provided by their social environments, such as school, constitute a good stage–environment fit.

Accordingly, bad stage–environment fit is a frequently used explanation to describe the decrease in interest, motivation, and academic performance observable in early adolescence (for a review, see Eccles & Roeser, 2009). This series of negative findings in research studies—some of them dating back to as far as the early 1980s—lead to the proposition that these negative developmental changes are partially a result of the transition from primary to secondary school that occurs in early adolescence (Eccles &

Midgley, 1989). More specifically, following the stage–environment fit line of reasoning, traditional secondary schools fail to provide developmentally appropriate educational environments for young individuals going through the critical time of early adolescence.

It is important to consider the possibility that adolescents with mental health problems are at a specific disadvantage to accomplish smooth school transitions compared to their healthy peers. Several research findings emphasize this course of argument. With regard to the primary – secondary school transition of students, prior research suggests that students with specific characteristics or problems might experience more pronounced difficulties than other students (West, Sweeting, & Young, 2010). For instance, Gray (1972) found that it is particularly children who exhibit behavioral inhibition (i.e. withdrawn or avoidant behavior, negative emotional states, and negative verbal and non-verbal expression), that experience adjustment difficulties at the beginning of secondary school. Similarly, results from another study suggests that anxious adolescents who had suffered from bullying in primary schools as well as students with lower self-esteem experienced poorer school transitions in general or with regard to their peer social system (West et al., 2010).

The above-mentioned findings dovetail with a growing body of research on the association between depression and adjustment difficulties. Whereas the majority of research on depression and functioning has focused on the perspective that poor functioning leads to depression, it needs to be considered that functioning problems in important life domains and contexts (e.g., in school) are in fact caused by depression.

With respect to school as an important developmental environment for academic and social growth, poor functioning caused by depression can lead to significant negative consequences and in turn affect an individual’s personal and professional life.