Scientific article 12. SEP 2025
Understanding social wellbeing in classrooms
Daycare, school and education
Daycare, school and education
Background
The wellbeing of pupils is increasingly recognised as a key factor in education, with the role of schools in shaping it emphasised across the literature. Classroom peers are likely among the most influential social connections of individuals during their formative years, and while pupils' own peer relationships have been widely studied, the relation between classroom networks and pupil wellbeing remains underexplored.
Purpose
This study explored the relationship between structural features of pupils' classroom and individual networks and their social wellbeing (defined through four domains: loneliness, belonging, acceptance, and prosociality).
Method
Based on self-reported peer interactions among all pupils in 905 Danish classrooms (16,961 children aged 10-15), we identified individual (direct connections) and classroom networks (connections among all pupils in class). Using linear regression methods and controlling for key pupil characteristics and school-fixed effects, we analysed the importance of structural features of both types of networks for pupils' social wellbeing.
Findings
The findings revealed quantifiable and empirically significant associations between specific peer network structures and pupils' social wellbeing, suggesting that denser, more clustered, less reciprocated, and less centralised classroom networks were positively associated with social wellbeing, although the inclusion of pupils' individual networks reduced these associations. The study also found that larger and stronger individual networks were positively associated with social wellbeing outcomes.
Conclusion
The study's findings suggest that there is a role for future research studies in further distinguishing between varying levels and structures of peer networks, to explore their relationship with different domains of social wellbeing. The findings have relevance for teachers, helping them to broaden and nuance their understanding of peer networks, and their links to social wellbeing, and better equipping them to influence and improve peer relations in class.
The wellbeing of pupils is increasingly recognised as a key factor in education, with the role of schools in shaping it emphasised across the literature. Classroom peers are likely among the most influential social connections of individuals during their formative years, and while pupils' own peer relationships have been widely studied, the relation between classroom networks and pupil wellbeing remains underexplored.
Purpose
This study explored the relationship between structural features of pupils' classroom and individual networks and their social wellbeing (defined through four domains: loneliness, belonging, acceptance, and prosociality).
Method
Based on self-reported peer interactions among all pupils in 905 Danish classrooms (16,961 children aged 10-15), we identified individual (direct connections) and classroom networks (connections among all pupils in class). Using linear regression methods and controlling for key pupil characteristics and school-fixed effects, we analysed the importance of structural features of both types of networks for pupils' social wellbeing.
Findings
The findings revealed quantifiable and empirically significant associations between specific peer network structures and pupils' social wellbeing, suggesting that denser, more clustered, less reciprocated, and less centralised classroom networks were positively associated with social wellbeing, although the inclusion of pupils' individual networks reduced these associations. The study also found that larger and stronger individual networks were positively associated with social wellbeing outcomes.
Conclusion
The study's findings suggest that there is a role for future research studies in further distinguishing between varying levels and structures of peer networks, to explore their relationship with different domains of social wellbeing. The findings have relevance for teachers, helping them to broaden and nuance their understanding of peer networks, and their links to social wellbeing, and better equipping them to influence and improve peer relations in class.
About this publication
Published in
Educational Research
