Relationships Between School Climate Dimensions and Adolescents’ School Life Satisfaction, Academic Satisfaction and Perceived Popularity Within a Chinese Context

The first part of this study explored the association between school climate and students’ well-being (i.e., school life satisfaction, academic satisfaction and perceived popularity) within the Chinese school context. Two hundred and twenty-one secondary school students in Hong Kong participated in this exploratory study. Due to the lack of culturally relevant instruments, school climate was measured with an adapted instrument that was evaluated by factor analyses. Findings revealed six dimensions of school climate, including positive student–teacher relationships, school order and environment, perceived academic competence, perceived privileges, learning interests and academic support. Preliminary results obtained from multiple regression analyses indicated that the dimension of school order and environment significantly predicted school life satisfaction. Perceived academic competence predicted not only academic satisfaction, but also perceived popularity. However, perceived privilege, learning interests and academic support were negatively related to school life satisfaction and perceived popularity. Interestingly, positive student–teacher relationships did not significantly predict overall well-being. The second part of this study adopted a qualitative approach to explore school climate in relation to well-being from students’ perspectives. The findings showed that learning-related issues, such as learning difficulties, were major contributors to students’ well-being. The findings are discussed from a cultural standpoint to inform educational practices and directions for future research.