TY - JOUR AU - Brandseth, Oda Lekve AU - Håvarstein, Malin Torstveit AU - Urke, Helga Bjørnøy AU - Haug, Ellen AU - Larsen, Torill PY - 2019/05/09 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Mental well-being among students in Norwegian upper secondary schools: the role of teacher support and class belonging JF - Norsk Epidemiologi JA - Nor J Epidemiol VL - 28 IS - 1-2 SE - DO - 10.5324/nje.v28i1-2.3050 UR - https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/norepid/article/view/3050 SP - AB - <p>Knowledge about factors in school that can promote adolescents’ mental health is of great value for national health policies and health promotion work. This cross-sectional study investigated levels of mental wellbeing measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and the relationship with teacher support and class belonging among 574 Norwegian high school students, aged 16-17 (55.1% boys). The data stem from the COMPLETE-project. Results showed that students reported an average mental wellbeing of 3.50 (SD 0.88, range 1-5), with significant differences across gender, study specialization area and socioeconomic status groups. Class belonging partially mediated the observed relationship between teacher support and mental well-being after adjusting for covariates. The findings indicate that a supportive teacher may be a significant factor for both students’ class belonging and mental well-being, and suggests that school policies and programs should include a focus on promoting teachers’ supportive behavior.</p> ER -