Theory & Practice Pages 99–107 Student–school bonding and adolescent problem behavior

Adolescent problem behavior, including sub-stance use, school misconduct and delinquency, is a national concern. Implicit in the concept of middle school is the recognition that students who develop positive social bonds with their school are more likely to perform well academic-ally, and refrain from misconduct and other antisocial behavior. However, little scientific attention has been given to the complex inter-actions between middle school students and the school environment. Prior to implementing a middle school problem behavior prevention program we conducted a survey in the seven middle schools in one US school district. Out of 4668 grade 6–8 students enrolled, 4263 (91.3%) completed the survey. Student–school bonding was positively correlated with school adjust-ment (r J 0.49) and perceived school climate (r J 0.77), but inversely correlated with problem behavior (r J –0.39 to –0.43). Problem behavior was significantly higher (P < 0.001) among males than females and among students in higher grades. Conversely, school bonding, climate and adjustment were significantly higher (P < 0.001) among females than males, but declined signi-ficantly from one grade to the next. The data support the conclusion that school bonding is associated with problem behavior. We describ