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School connectedness in the health behavior in school-aged children study: the role of student, school, and school neighborhood characteristics.

School connectedness includes liking school and positive relations with teachers and peers. School connectedness is associated with a variety of positive health outcomes. The goal of this study was to identify characteristics of students, schools, and school neighborhoods that are related to school connectedness. In the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study, school connectedness was reported by 13,207 students (grades 6-10) in 340 schools. HBSC measured a variety of student characteristics. Characteristics of schools were culled from data maintained by Quality Education Data, and school neighborhood characteristics were derived from the 2000 decennial census. Associations between connectedness and student, school, and school neighborhood characteristics were estimated using hierarchical linear models. Characteristics of students, schools, and school neighborhoods were associated with school connectedness. Connectedness was greater among younger students, females, students with better academic performance and greater extracurricular involvement, students with greater self-rated physical attractiveness, students with more friends, students from 2-parent families, and students whose parents were more involved with school. Connectedness was greater in smaller schools, more racially homogeneous schools, and schools with more students from relatively wealthy households. School connectedness was higher in neighborhoods with a greater percentage of non-US citizens. As the percent of renters in the neighborhood increased beyond 20%, school connectedness tended to decrease. The findings point to possible strategies for fostering school connectedness.