The importance of supporting students’ well-being is highlighted in many empirical studies and policy documents (e.g. Cefai et al., 2021; Deighton et al., 2019) and school context is singled out as an important environment in which this is possible to do (Pulimeno et al., 2020). Data on LGBT adolescent mental health inequalities point to even more support needed for the LGBT students in schools given their lower well-being compared to other students (McDermott et al., 2023). Our study is situated within the minority stress model that posits that sexual minorities face unique and hostile stressors associated with being a sexual minority, resulting in a negative impact on their health and well-being (Meyer, 2003). The model distinguishes distal (prejudice, discrimination or violence) and proximal (specific experiences of sexual minorities such as hiding one's sexual orientation, expectation of rejection, or internalized homonegativity) stressors related to belonging to a minority group. Furthermore, the assumption is that social support and a sense of connection with others can have a positive effect on mental health and alleviate feelings of stress. Studies indeed show that school climate can significantly influence the well-being of LGBT students. For example, when the school climate is hostile towards LGBT students or ignores them, they are more likely to experience homophobic bullying, which can severely reduce their well-being, feelings of being safe in school and their academic outcomes (Kosciw et al., 2016). However, a supportive school climate can be a protective factor for LGBT students’ well-being (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2014).

The aim of this study is to investigate how school experience moderates the relationship between sexual orientation and overall life satisfaction among upper secondary students. The following research hypotheses will be addressed: 1) LGBT students are less satisfied with their life than their heterosexual counterparts; 2) students’ favourable school experience (higher academic self-efficacy, higher sense of belonging at school, higher perceived quality of student-teacher relations and lower perception of teacher unfairness) positively predicts their life satisfaction; 3) students’ favourable school experience moderates the relationship between sexual orientation and life satisfaction: more specifically, a positive school experience acts as a protective factor, enhancing overall life satisfaction, with a more pronounced impact observed among LGBT students.

The research was conducted in 2022 as a part of the project “Thematic Network for Lifelong Learning Available to All (TEMCO)” co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund. Online questionnaire was administered during class to second-year upper secondary students (aged 15-16) from 20 randomly chosen schools in the City of Zagreb and Northern Croatia (N=1238). The questionnaire was anonymous and contained the following scales: life satisfaction (How satisfied are you with...? e.g. your health, family relations; 1=Extremely dissatisfied, 5=Extremely satisfied; α=.82; OECD, 2019; Jokić et al., 2019), academic self-efficacy (e.g. I think I am good at studying; 1=Does not apply to me at all, 5= Completely applies to me; α=.75; Jokić et al., 2007), sense of belonging at school (e.g. I make friends easily at school; 1= Strongly disagree, 4= Strongly agree; α=.85; OECD, 2019), perceived quality of student-teacher relations (Think about your experiences during the past 2 months: for how many of your teachers do the following statements apply? e.g. I can trust my teachers; 1= For none or almost none, 4= For all or almost all of them; α=.87; Fischer et al., 2017) and perception of teacher unfairness (Think about your experiences during the past 2 months: how often did the following situations happen to you? e.g. Teachers ridiculed me in front of others; 1=Never or almost never, 4= Every or almost every day; α=.77; OECD, 2017). Students were also asked whether they consider themselves different from other students in their school according to their sexual orientation and, based on the answer, they were classified into two groups: LGBT and heterosexual students. Additional data on students’ gender, parental education level, type of upper secondary program (grammar school or vocational school) and first-year grade point average (GPA) were also collected. Multiple linear regression analysis with overall life satisfaction as an outcome variable was applied in two steps. The first step included main effects of predictors of interest (sexual orientation, academic self-efficacy, sense of belonging at school, perceived quality of student-teacher relations and perception of teacher unfairness) as well as the main effects of chosen control variables (gender, parental education level, type of upper secondary program and GPA). In the second model, interaction terms were added (academic self-efficacy X sexual orientation, sense of belonging at school X sexual orientation, perceived quality of student-teacher relations X sexual orientation and perception of teacher unfairness X sexual orientation).

In line with our hypotheses, LGBT students, on average, reported lower levels of overall life satisfaction than their heterosexual counterparts. Different measures of students’ favourable school experience (higher academic self-efficacy, sense of belonging at school, perceived quality of student-teacher relations and lower perception of teacher unfairness) all predicted higher overall life satisfaction. Moderation effects suggest that higher sense of belonging at school and lower perception of teacher unfairness have more noticeable positive effects on overall life satisfaction among LGBT students compared to their heterosexual peers. There was no moderation effect of academic self-efficacy and perceived quality of student-teacher relations on the relationship between sexual orientation and life satisfaction. In relation to control variables, young men and vocational school students expressed higher levels of overall life satisfaction than young women and gymnasium students, respectively. The main effects of GPA and parental educational level were not statistically significant. The model explained about one third of variance in overall life satisfaction. With regard to moderation effects of sense of belonging at school and perception of teacher unfairness on LGBT students’ overall life satisfaction, the results indicate that a positive school climate may alleviate the negative effects of stigma-related stressors on the well-being of LGBT youth. This finding is in line with studies that suggested the importance of positive school climate for potential social support regarding LGBT and other minority students (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2014). Therefore, studies on the relationship between school climate and LGBT students’ experiences in school can serve as an important empirical impetus for planning transformative interventions aimed at supporting LGBT students and making sure that schools are a safe place for them.

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