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Democratic School Climate and Sense of Community in School: A Multilevel Analysis
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Regular Articles
Democratic School Climate and Sense of Community in School: A Multilevel Analysis
Alessio Vieno1, Douglas D. Perkins2 , Thomas M. Smith2 and Massimo Santinello1
| (1) |
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy |
| (2) |
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee |
Abstract This study examines individual- and school-level predictors of sense of community in school among adolescents. Hierarchical
linear modeling was used to examine the relationships between individual (demographics, control and monitoring by parents,
and perception of democratic school climate), class, and school characteristics (mean democratic school climate, demographics,
activities, school size, public/private governance of the school, and facilities) and students' sense of community in the
school. Data were analyzed using a three-level model based on 4,092 10- to 18-year-old students nested within 248 classes
(across three grade levels: 6th, 8th, and 10th grade level, where the median age was 11, 13, and 15, respectively) in 134
schools in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. Individual and contextual measures of the perception of a democratic school
climate, modeled at the individual, class, and school levels simultaneously, were each significant predictor of school sense
of community. More parental monitoring and less parental control were also predictive at the individual level. School-level
SES predicted between school variation in sense of community, controlling for individual student SES and other student and
school-level predictors. School size, facilities (physical spaces resources), level of interaction of the school with the
community, public, or private governance, and number of extracurricular activities offered were all nonsignificant. The study
demonstrates significant variation in school sense of community at the student, class, and school levels and the important
role played by democratic school practices, such as student participation in making rules and organizing events, freedom of
expression, and the perceived fairness of rules and teachers, in determining this variable.
Keywords school sense of community - democratic climate - HLM - adolescence - parenting style
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