Psykososialt klassemiljø og mental trivsel blant elever i videregående skole. “I hvilken grad har psykososialt klassemiljø, målt ved lærerstøtte og klassetilhørighet, sammenheng med mental trivsel blant elever i 1.klasse på videregående skole?”

Background: The basis for mental health is largely influenced by one’s youth. Knowledge about factors in school affecting adolescents mental health is therefore of great value for national health policies and health promotion. Research indicated that teacher support and belonging were important psychosocial factors in school that can influence young people’s mental health. Study purpose: This study examines psychosocial class environmental factors that can promote students mental well-being. Method: This study is a cross-sectional study with 574 Norwegian high school students, aged 16-17 (55.1% boys). The data consists of the control group from the COMPLETE-project, collected by questionnaires in spring 2017. Regression analysis were conducted for the total sample, in addition to separate analysis for gender and field of study, to investigate to what extent the relationship between psychosocial class environment and mental well-being varies between groups. Mediation analysis investigated to what extent class belonging mediated the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being. Results: Teacher support had the strongest correlation with mental well-being, compared with class belonging. Both variables were positively associated with mental well-being. The regression analysis revealed that class belonging explained more of the variance in mental well-being, than teacher support, for students in general-study. However, teacher support explained twice as much of the variance, than class belonging, on mental well-being for both boys and students in vocational subjects. The mediation analysis revealed that class belonging partially mediated the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a good psychosocial school environment is an important prediction for the mental well-being of first high school students in Norway. Class belonging appeared to partial mediate the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being, which forms a basis for further research and hypotheses