Cluster analysis of school emotional engagement among Portuguese children in elementary school

Abstract

The association between school emotional engagement and child mental health and school success highlights the importance of understanding how child–school relations are developed and what factors are related to this affective process during the initial years of schooling so that early intervention is possible. This study examined emotional engagement in Portuguese children attending elementary school and aimed to identify and characterize subgroups based on the child’s school liking and avoidance, using a model–based cluster analysis. In addition, differences between clusters in what concerns individual (self–efficacy, behavioral engagement, externalizing, and internalizing problems), family (parental emotional support), school (teacher-student closeness), and family-school relation (parental school involvement) variables were analyzed. The sample consisted of 394 elementary school children, 353 parents, and 35 teachers using a multimethod assessment (i.e. children, parents, and teachers’ reports). Cluster analysis identified three patterns of emotional school involvement: emotionally involved, emotionally involved with some avoidance, and emotionally ambivalent. Results showed that many children experience ambivalent feelings toward school in the first years of schooling. The emotionally ambivalent group stood out negatively from the other groups concerning self–efficacy, behavioral engagement, externalizing, and internalizing problems. Suggestions for future research and practical implications for schools are discussed.

Keywords:

• Children’s adjustment
• cluster analysis
• ecological approach
• elementary school
• school emotional engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), [UIDB/04527/2020].

Notes on contributors

Ana Raquel Ribeiro

Ana Raquel Ribeiro has a degree in Psychology from the University of Coimbra and a master’s degree in School Social Intervention – Children and Youth at Risk. She works as a Psychologist at the Polytechnic University of Castelo Branco. She is PhD in Psychology, with a specialization in Clinical Psychology – Thematic area: Family Psychology and Family Intervention at the Faculty of Psychology from the University of Lisbon (2023). Her research interests focus on parenting styles and socio-emotional adjustment in children and adolescents and children’s psychopathology and health.

Marta Pedro

Marta Pedro is Auxiliar Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences (FCH) of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP). She is PhD in Psychology, with a specialization in Family Psychology, from the University of Lisbon (2013). She received a PhD scholarship from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, having carried out a period of research at the University of Cardiff (Wales, United Kingdom), which allowed her to obtain a European PhD degree from the University of Lisbon. Her research interests focus on family relationships and parenting, with a special interest in the association between aspects of marital functioning, coparenting, educational parenting styles and socio-emotional adjustment in children and adolescents, having published in these areas in international journals.

Magda Sofia Roberto

Magda Sofia Roberto, PhD in Social Psychology, holds a position as Assistant Professor in Psychological Processes and Research Methodologies at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. She did five years of postdoctoral research in applied health and care using mixed methods, valuing participatory approaches such as digital storytelling. Current research activities are developed at the Center for Research in Psychological Science (CICPSI) addressing: (1) the health and wellbeing of digitally excluded social groups, (2) the role of social and moral norms in compliance behaviors, and (3) the social determinants of migrant health. Her teaching interests are in research methods and statistics and how student-centred methods can decrease statistics anxiety. She also provides statistical consulting on academic research projects.

Ana Isabel Pereira

Ana Isabel Pereira, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. Her current research activities are developed at the Center for Research in Psychological Science (CICPSI) and focus on the study of parenting; child’s development and psychopathology; clinical and health psychology with children and adolescents; and processes of therapeutic change in psychological interventions with youth and parents.