Notwithstanding the large consensus on the idea that justice should be favoured in school contexts to promote student well-being, there is still a lack of research that has investigated how the experience of justice at school spreads impact on global adolescent psychological health. The aim of this study is to investigate the degree to which the experience of teacher (in)justice is possibly related to some of the indicators of adolescent global psychological health, namely individual and social functioning, psychological problems, and somatic symptoms. We also test the role of two components of school-specific well-being, i.e., emotional engagement and classroom connectedness, here considered as potential mediators between teacher justice and psychological health. Structural equation modelling indicated that teacher justice is positively associated with emotional engagement, classroom connectedness and individual functioning, and negatively related to psychological problems. The relation from teacher justice to individual functioning was partially mediated by emotional engagement and classroom connectedness. The relation from teacher justice to social functioning and somatic symptoms was fully mediated by classroom connectedness, while a partial mediation was found between teacher justice and psychological problems via classroom connectedness. These results are commented at the light of their implications for teacher practices.

The elusive character of student agency makes it a relevant construct to be investigated and measured. An initial effort in this direction was represented by the Agentic Engagement Scale, a five-item instrument designed to assess the degree to which students constructively contribute to the flow of the instructions they receive from the teacher. Despite its merits, in its current form this scale takes into account only a part of the wide range of student agentic expressions. In the present work, we propose an extension of the Agentic Engagement Scale from five to 10 items. Compared to the original scale, the new version covers a larger variety of proactive student contributions, such as those concerning peer interactions and those communications in which learners question or challenge the teacher’s instructions. The study was conducted on 1,064 Italian high school students equally distributed between males and females. Confirmative factor analysis endorsed the adequacy of a one-factor structure of the enlarged Agentic Engagement Scale, which showed good psychometric properties as well as positive associations with student motivation to learn and the other three aspects of engagement (i.e., affective, behavioral, and cognitive). The theoretical and practical implications of a more comprehensive scale of student agentic engagement are discussed.

Background. Recent studies have consistently identified the negative consequences of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health. Nevertheless, not all cybervictims are alike, and in the last few years some evidence has appeared indicating that faced with cyberbullying, victims may manifest different emotional outcomes. In this study, we explored whether cybervictim resilience fully or partially mediates the effects of cybervictimization and whether a confrontational coping strategy impacts emotional symptoms. Methods. The study was carried out with a sample of 474 high school students equally distributed between males and females. Data were collected using a questionnaire comprising four measures assessing cybervictimization, direct confrontation coping strategy, resilience and emotional symptoms. Results. Structural equation modelling indicated that the effects of cybervictimization and confrontational coping strategy on emotional symptoms were mediated by resilience, with cybervictimization showing a positive effect while direct confrontation a negative effect. Cybervictimization also showed a positive direct effect on emotional symptoms. Conclusions. These results are presented in light of their implications for designing effective interventions able to protect and promote adolescents’ psychological wellbeing.