How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood

O’Halloran, Tracy; Symonds, Jennifer; Bhreathnach, Linda L.; Sloan, Seaneen; Devine, Dympna; Martinez Sainz, Gabriela; Davies, Aisling

doi:10.3390/educsci13100994

Open AccessArticle

How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood

by

Tracy O’Halloran

,

Jennifer Symonds

,

Linda L. Bhreathnach

^*,

Seaneen Sloan

,

Dympna Devine

,

Gabriela Martinez Sainz

and

Aisling Davies

School of Education, University College Dublin, D04 C1P1 Dublin, Ireland

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 994; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100994

Submission received: 14 June 2023 / Revised: 25 August 2023 / Accepted: 27 August 2023 / Published: 28 September 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental Health and Well-Being on School Campus in the Post-pandemic Era)

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Abstract

The current study examined whether delivering wellbeing interventions in schools impacted anxiety development in middle childhood. Schools have an important role to play in addressing children’s anxiety through daily practice in classrooms and by implementing specialist wellbeing interventions that support children’s coping. A nationally representative sample of Irish primary school children (N = 2313; 48.9% male) were surveyed when they were in second class (M age 8.09 years, SD = 0.39) and fourth class (M age 9.96 years, SD = 0.40) of primary school. Teachers reported on wellbeing interventions in schools. Key findings from moderation analyses suggest that family affluence and being female predicted a greater increase in anxiety development and that wellbeing interventions interacted with family affluence to reduce anxiety development for more affluent children. These findings can be used to strengthen the design and implementation of wellbeing interventions for a more efficacious approach to minimising children’s anxiety development.

Keywords: anxiety; low-income schools; wellbeing interventions

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MDPI and ACS Style

O’Halloran, T.; Symonds, J.; Bhreathnach, L.L.; Sloan, S.; Devine, D.; Martinez Sainz, G.; Davies, A. How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 994. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100994

AMA Style

O’Halloran T, Symonds J, Bhreathnach LL, Sloan S, Devine D, Martinez Sainz G, Davies A. How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood. Education Sciences. 2023; 13(10):994. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100994

Chicago/Turabian Style

O’Halloran, Tracy, Jennifer Symonds, Linda L. Bhreathnach, Seaneen Sloan, Dympna Devine, Gabriela Martinez Sainz, and Aisling Davies. 2023. "How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood" Education Sciences 13, no. 10: 994. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100994

APA Style

O’Halloran, T., Symonds, J., Bhreathnach, L. L., Sloan, S., Devine, D., Martinez Sainz, G., & Davies, A. (2023). How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood. Education Sciences, 13(10), 994. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100994

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How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood

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