Relationship between students' perceived parent-teacher-student relationships, sense of school belonging, and well-being in China: investigating the difference between primary and secondary students.

OBJECTIVES: Students' well-being is a critical indicator of their academic performance, pro-social behavior, and future development. Students' perceived relationships with parents, teachers, and peers, along with their sense of school belonging, are significantly associated with their well-being. This study aimed to examine whether students' sense of school belonging mediates the relationship between perceived parent-teacher-student relationship and well-being. The study also explored whether there were differences between primary and secondary school students on the main dimensions.

METHODS: Data were obtained from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Survey on Social and Emotional Skills, which included responses from 6,742 students in Suzhou, China (3,508 Grade 4 and 3,234 Grade 10 students). A t-test was used to determine whether any differences existed in the five dimensions between students in Grades 4 and 10. Correlation and regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between different variables. Structural equation modeling with a bootstrap resampling procedure was employed to test the mediation model.

RESULTS: The findings showed that primary school students reported positive relationships with parents and peers, greater overall well-being, and a stronger sense of school belonging than secondary school students. However, they reported less positive relationships with their teachers. After controlling for other variables, the findings indicated that students' perceived parent-teacher-student relationships and sense of school belonging were positively and significantly related with students' well-being. These four dimensions collectively explain 44.8% of the variation in the differences in students' sense of well-being. The results of the bootstrap mediation analysis showed that students' sense of school belonging significantly partially mediated the relationship between perceived parent-teacher-student relationships and well-being.

CONCLUSION: Well-being serves as an important indicator that is positively associated with students' current learning and development and may be relevant to their future success. This study provides empirical evidence that a sense of school belonging serves as a key mediating mechanism through which perceived parent-teacher-student relationships translate into students' well-being, extending the application of belongingness theory and self-determination theory within the Chinese educational context. It is imperative for school authorities, teachers, and parents to create a learning environment that promotes students' aspirations, well-being, and academic development.