Association between student-endorsed diversity norms and school adjustment: multilevel analysis of PISA 2018 across 34 countries/regions

Abstract Background Research has shown that school climates characterized by equality, inclusion, and multiculturalism are associated with more positive academic and psychological outcomes. However, prior work has focused mainly on school-level diversity approaches, with less attention to students’ collective diversity norms. Additionally, evidence has largely come from Western single-country samples. Aims This study examines associations between two forms of student-endorsed diversity norms—multicultural and equality/inclusion norms—and academic performance (math and reading) as well as psychological adjustment (school belonging, attitudes toward learning) across multiple national contexts. It also examines whether these associations are indirect through school belonging and whether cross-national patterns vary according to the OECD migration-context typology. Sample Data were drawn from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment, comprising 273,623 15-year-old students across 34 countries/regions. Methods Multilevel modeling accounted for the nested data structure and estimated associations between diversity norms and student outcomes, controlling for student-level covariates and school-level immigrant proportion and school-average socioeconomic status. Multilevel mediation analyses examined whether school belonging accounted for associations between norms and adjustment. Results Multicultural norms showed very small positive associations with school belonging and attitudes toward learning, and moderate positive associations with academic performance. Equality/inclusion norms showed small positive associations with school belonging and academic performance but not with attitudes toward learning. For multicultural norms, school belonging accounted for associations with attitudes toward learning, math performance, and reading performance; for equality/inclusion norms, this indirect association was observed only for attitudes toward learning. Cross-national analyses indicated that associations varied by norm type and outcome: multicultural norms showed greater cross-national generalizability for academic performance than for psychological adjustment, whereas equality/inclusion norms showed more context-dependent patterns across all outcomes. Overall, the strength of associations between student-endorsed diversity norms and adjustment differed systematically across migration contexts, institutional frameworks, and stages of diversity integration. Conclusions Students'' endorsed diversity norms are important school-level correlates of academic and psychological adjustment, highlighting their relevance as a dimension of school diversity climates and their potential importance for supporting students'' academic and psychosocial development in increasingly diverse school environments.