The personal and contextual contributors to school belongingness among primary school students

School belongingness has gained currency among educators and school health professionals as an important determinant of adolescent health. The current cross-sectional study presents the 15 most significant personal and contextual factors that collectively explain 66.4% (two-thirds) of the variability in 12-year old students' perceptions of belongingness in primary school. The study is part of a larger longitudinal study investigating the factors associated with student adjustment in the transition from primary to secondary school. The study found that girls and students with disabilities had higher school belongingness scores than boys, and their typically developing counterparts respectively; and explained 2.5% of the variability in school belongingness. The majority (47.1% out of 66.4%) of the variability in school belongingness was explained by student personal factors, such as social acceptance, physical appearance competence, coping skills, and social affiliation motivation; followed by parental expectations (3% out of 66.4%), and school-based factors (13.9% out of 66.4%) such as, classroom involvement, task-goal structure, autonomy provision, cultural pluralism, and absence of bullying. Each of the identified contributors of primary school belongingness can be shaped through interventions, system changes, or policy reforms

Influence of Classroom and School Climate on Teacher Perceptions of Student Problem Behavior

Reducing student problem behavior remains a leading concern for school staff, as disruptive and aggressive behavior interferes with student achievement and the school climate. However, the multi-systemic nature of schools makes it difficult for researchers and practitioners to identify factors influencing to students’ behavior. The current study examined student problem behavior through an ecological lens by taking into account individual (e.g., gender, ethnicity, prosocial behavior), classroom (e.g., class size, average classroom behavior), and school-level factors (e.g., location, school climate). Using data from 37 elementary schools, 467 classrooms, and 8,750 students, a series of hierarchical linear models was tested. Multilevel analyses revealed that while individual student characteristics had the largest influence on problem behavior, average prosocial behavior and concentration problems of students within the classroom, as well as teacher perceptions of the school climate significantly related to how students behaved. These findings support the use of classroom-based intervention programs to reduce student problem behavior

NSC114085

The ability of all 11 variable opacity (Opa) proteins encoded by Neisseria gonorrhoeae MS11 to interact directly with the five CD66 antigens was determined. Transfected HeLa cell lines expressing individual CD66 antigens were infected with recombinant N. gonorrhoeae and Escherichia coli strains expressing defined Opas. Based upon the ability of these bacteria to bind and invade and to isolate specifically CD66 antigens from detergent-soluble extracts of the corresponding cell lines, distinct specificity groups of Opa interaction with CD66 were seen. Defining these specificity groups allowed us to assign a specific function for CD66a in the Opa-mediated interaction of gonococci with two different target cell types, which are both known to co-express multiple CD66 antigens. The competence of individual Opas to interact with CD66a was strictly correlated with their ability to induce an oxidative response by polymorphonuclear neutrophils. The same Opa specificity was observed for the level of gonococcal binding to primary endothelial cells after stimulation with TNFalpha, which was shown to increase the expression of CD66a rather than CD66e. As CD66e alone is expressed on other target tissues of gonococcal pathogenicity, Opa variation probably contributes to the cell tropism displayed by gonococci