Alejandra Villarroel

Understand the degree to which a Sense of Community at School can predict the Life Satisfaction of Chilean students in the fifth and seventh grades. The classroom and school components will be presented separately. The research was designed as a descriptive study using a survey with a probabilistic sample made up of 1959 students (52.6% male and 47.4% female) in the fifth and seventh grades at elementary schools in the cities of Concepción and Santiago in Chile. A multiple linear regression analysis was done using the Multidimensional Scales of School Sense of Community (SOC‐S) and Classroom Sense of Community (SOC‐C) as predictors of life satisfaction measured with the Student Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS). Multigroup analysis was conducted to make comparisons by sex and grade. The dimension of “sense of belonging and emotional connection” of the SOC‐C and the dimension of “belonging” of the SOC‐S predict life satisfaction for fifth grade students. The additional dimension of “emotional connection” of the SOC‐S scale was included for the seventh‐grade students. The sense that one is part of the school community is a dimension that affects childhood life satisfaction. Its level of contribution varies by age, with the sense of belonging and emotional connection variables being the relevant ones.

This article analyzes the relationships between the material conditions and the subjective well-being of 3,716 children (50.5% girls) between 10 and 12 years of age (M = 11.4) in Chile and Brazil. These are the two Latin American countries that took part in the third wave of the Children’s Worlds research. The material conditions of the children were assessed using latent classes. A multivariate analysis of covariance was done next in order to test the influence of material conditions over the children's subjective well-being and interpersonal relationships. The association between gender and country variables of the children was also studied. The results showed that although the average subjective well-being scores of the children were high in general, the class analysis showed significant differences between the results for children with better material conditions than those with poorer material conditions. The latter group presented lower subjective well-being levels. MANCOVA was used to analyze the mean differences in subjective well-being levels and interpersonal relationships controlling variables of gender and country of residence. This showed that children with greater access to better material conditions showed significantly higher levels of subjective well-being levels and had a more positive view of their interpersonal relationships in all areas assessed compared to those who reported worse material conditions. These results are discussed in view of the high indices of material deprivation that exist in Latin America during childhood as well as how these findings may help better understand the well-being of children living in Latin American countries.