Schools are one of the first and most influential service systems for young
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mental health services, in part to reduce stigma and increase treatment access
for this population. Despite the relevance of gaining a better understanding of
how refugee students experience schools in resettlement and how this relates to
psychosocial adjustment, belonging and connection to school have not been
previously investigated among a population of resettled refugees. This study
examines school belonging and psychosocial adjustment among a sample of 76
Somali adolescents resettled in the United States. A greater sense of school
belonging was associated with lower depression and higher self-efficacy,
regardless of the level of past exposure to adversities. Notably, more than
one-quarter of the variation in self-efficacy was explained uniquely by a sense
of school belonging. School belonging was not significantly associated with
posttraumatic stress symptom severity and did not moderate the effect of
exposure to adversities on psychological adjustment. These results suggest that
investigating ways of improving school experiences would be particularly useful
in the effort towards continued development of school-based mental health
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