Classroom peer ecology and relation with study-related wellbeing: a person-centered approach

Abstract Students’ academic performance and wellbeing are determined by the quantity and quality of social interactions within school, but evidence on individual variations in students’ experiences of their classroom peer ecology is less consistent. In this article we explored the patterns that can be detected in Finnish 5th and 8th graders’ experiences of their classroom peer ecology and examined whether those profiles were associated with students’ wellbeing in terms of study engagement and burnout. Survey data from 788 students were analyzed with latent profile analysis. We found three profiles with Positive (75.2%), Negative (10.3%), and Discrepant (14.5%) experiences of their classroom peer ecology. Higher levels of study engagement were experienced in the Positive and Discrepant peer ecology profiles. The lowest levels of burnout symptoms were experienced in the Positive peer ecology profile, and the highest levels of burnout in the Negative peer ecology profile. Differences by grade level and gender were also found in classroom peer ecology profiles, as well as class-level variations in the profile distributions.