School Belonging in Early Adolescence: A Multilevel Analysis of Individual, Relational, and Organizational Predictors Among Canadian Middle-Grade Students

Abstract

This study examined how individual, relational, and organizational factors relate to school belonging in early adolescence. Multilevel models used population-level data from 23,421 Grade 6-8 students in 365 British Columbia schools, with predictors centered within cluster and school means entered at Level 2 to separate within-from between-school associations. Belonging was lower among students in higher grades. Within schools, optimism, connectedness with adults and peers, and low victimization were associated with greater belonging, and adult and peer connectedness interacted. Between schools, school-average connectedness with adults and, especially, school-average victimization showed stronger associations than their within-school counterparts. Students in standalone middle schools reported lower belonging than students in elementary schools, whereas secondary and K-12 settings did not differ, after adjustment for grade, individual characteristics, and relational climate. The model explained 45.6% of within-school and 73% of between-school variance. Findings position belonging as co-constructed by students, school relational climate, and grade-span configuration.