© Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2009 The relationship of schools to emotional health and bullying

Objectives: To examine the extent to which school climate and school pressure could predict other aspects of adolescents’ lives, most particularly their emotional health and bullying. Furthermore, the study sought to investigate if these relation-ships were consistent across countries. Methods: Participants were 11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds from 26 European countries/regions, Canada, the United States, and Israel. Participants completed surveys focusing on health be-haviours and lifestyles, using a contextual framework. Using cluster analytic techniques, three clusters were created varying on school pressure and perceived school climate. These clusters were then examined using variables not used in the cluster-ing. Results: Students in the cluster having the most positive re-lationships to school outcomes, including academic achieve-ment, truancy, teacher and peer support, also had the most positive emotional health and the lowest incidence of bullying. Similarly, those in the poorest cluster in terms of school also had the poorest outcomes in terms of emotional health and bullying. Conclusions: These relatively small but significant associations suggest that schools may have a small role in supporting chil-dren’s emotional well-being and ameliorate the presence of bullying