At-school victimization mediates the relationship between school belonging and mental health

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential mediating role of at-school victimization in the relationship between school belonging and mental health (both depression and general psychopathology).

Methods: A total of 149 sexual minority adolescents, age 17-20 (M = 19.15, SD = .79), were recruited from college lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender student organizations. Participants completed an online survey containing measures assessing high school experiences, depression and general levels of psychopathology. Bootstrapping (see Preacher & Hayes, 2008) analyses were used to test for indirect mediation effects.

Results: Results indicate that at-school victimization partially mediates the relationship between school belonging and depressive symptoms (mean indirect effect (Mie) from 5,000 bootstrap samples = -.3823; 95% bias corrected and accelerated CI = -.6976 to -.1853). At-school victimization also partially mediates the relationship between school belonging and general forms of psychopathology (Mie = -1.0223; CI = -1.9266 to -.4779).

Conclusions: The findings extend previous research by identifying at-school victimization as a factor which could explain why sexual minority youth report decreased feelings of school belonging, which are in turn related to increases in internalizing psychopathology. Future analyses will examine possible factors (e.g. the presence of supportive teachers and high school gay-straight alliances) which may offset risks associated with decreased school belonging and victimization. Social justice implications involve expanding school policies to protect sexual minority youth and advocating for legislation, such as the Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262), that provides legal protections to this population.