Direct and indirect effects of school sense of community and perceptions of justice on students’ well-being

Schools are a primary social context for youth. Students gain knowledge and skills that they can use both in school and outside of school, immediately and in the future. Therefore, students’ perception of justice and the sense of school as community contribute to their well-being, thus improving the quality of their life. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between School Sense of community, Perceptions of school climate, School collective efficacy in protecting the students’ rights, Perceived justice and Psychosocial well-being, highlighting the predictors of the latter. A further aim was to analyze the mediating effect of school collective beliefs for students’ well-being. Participants were 390 students from southern of Italy, attending senior high school (in science education = 58.6%, and technical education = 41.4%), almost equally distributed by gender (58.6% females), which completed an self-report questionnaire. The structural equation model implemented showed adequate fit indices [χ2 (84, N = 375) = 224.97, p <.001, CFI = .95, NNFI = .93, RMSEA = .066, SRMR = .062]. The results showed the direct effect of sense of community, collective efficacy and perceived justice on the psychosocial well-being. When tested in a structural equation modeling analysis collective efficacy mediated the relationship between sense of community, school climate, perceived justice and well-being. This study reinforces the importance of school as support networks for young people. Sense of community, Collective efficacy and Perceived justice may well play an especially important role in well-being among young people. The findings demonstrate the need for a more thorough examination of the relational and contextual paths by which schools can influence the development of their students.