School is (not) calling:the associations of gender, family affluence, disruptions in the social context and learning difficulties with school satisfaction among adolescents in Slovakia

Objectives Education is an important tool to reduce health inequalities. Several factors influence the educational trajectory of children, with school satisfaction being one of them. The aim was to explore how learning difficulties, a disrupted social context and family affluence relate to school satisfaction. Methods We used data from the 2018 Slovak cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children-study (age 15 years;N = 913; 50.3% boys). School satisfaction was categorized as liking school and caring about education (satisfied), disliking school but caring about education or vice versa (inconsistent), and disliking school and not caring about education (indifferent). We explored the association of learning difficulties, disrupted social context and family affluence with school satisfaction using multinomial logistic regression. Results Boys, and children having learning difficulties, or disruption in the social context and living in low affluence family were significantly less likely to be satisfied at school. Conclusions The key is to create a stimulating and encouraging environment at school, where children successfully learn functional literacy and feel well. The more satisfaction pupils get from school, the more likely is a favourable educational trajectory for them.