Relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness and positive affect in adolescents

Fabio Alivernini; Elisa Cavicchiolo; Laura Girelli; Fabio Lucidi; Valeria Biasi; Luigi Leone; Mauro Cozzolino; Sara Manganelli

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.08.011

Relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness and positive affect in adolescents

J Adolesc. 2019 Oct:76:99-108. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.08.011. Epub 2019 Aug 30.

Authors

Fabio Alivernini¹, Elisa Cavicchiolo², Laura Girelli³, Fabio Lucidi⁴, Valeria Biasi⁵, Luigi Leone⁶, Mauro Cozzolino⁷, Sara Manganelli⁸

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, 00153, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fabio.alivernini@invalsi.it.
² National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, 00153, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: elisa.cavicchiolo@invalsi.it.
³ Department of Human, Philosophical and Educational Sciences, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy. Electronic address: lgirelli@unisa.it.
⁴ Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fabio.lucidi@uniroma1.it.
⁵ Department of Education, Roma Tre University, Via del Castro Pretorio, 20, 00185, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: valeria.biasci@uniroma3.it.
⁶ Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: luigi.leone@uniroma1.it.
⁷ Department of Human, Philosophical and Educational Sciences, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy. Electronic address: mcozzolino@unisa.it.
⁸ National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo, 35, 00153, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: sara.manganelli@invalsi.it.

PMID: 31476690
DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.08.011

Abstract

Introduction: During adolescence, experiencing positive emotions at school is important for motivation as well as for academic success and psychological well-being. In the present study, on the basis of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we investigated the relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness (acceptance and friendship) and positive affect at school.

Methods: Data was based on a random sample of 36,712 tenth grade Italian adolescents. Their average age was 15.6 years (SD = 0.77), 50.6% were males, while 6.1% were first-generation immigrants and 3.8% were second-generation immigrants. Firstly, comparing latent means, we established peer relatedness and positive affect profiles of adolescents with different sociocultural backgrounds. Subsequently, we tested a structural equation model, based on SDT, according to which the effects of sociocultural factors on experiencing positive affect at school are mediated by peer relatedness dimensions.

Results: Latent mean comparisons showed that immigrant adolescents, students with a lower-SES and girls had fewer friendships with their classmates, lower levels of positive affect at school and were less accepted by their peers. A well-fitting structural equation model corroborated the mediating role of acceptance and friendship, which accounted for 16% of variance in positive affect.

Conclusions: Due to sociocultural factors, some groups of adolescents proved to be more at risk of being socially excluded and of experiencing less positive affect at school. Moreover, our findings support the claim of SDT that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, such as relatedness, is more important than sociocultural factors in determining adolescents' psychological well-being.

Keywords: Friendship; Gender; Immigrant background; Peer relatedness; Positive affect; Socioeconomic status.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Emigrants and Immigrants / psychology
Female
Friends / psychology
Humans
Interpersonal Relations*
Italy
Male
Motivation
Personal Autonomy*
Social Isolation / psychology*
Socioeconomic Factors