Social Connections: In-person and Online

Jie Fan, Sharon Ogden, Georgia Rudd, Emma Marks, Elizabeth Peterson, Caroline Walker, Kane Meissel

Having a sense of belonging and good friendships are essential across all life stages but are particularly significant during adolescence, when young people are more likely to spend time with peers in and out of school than with their family.

Good friends tended to have shared characteristics, with qualities and interests in common, and are viewed as worthy of being cherished and valued. Friendships and a sense of belonging can be fostered in different contexts and groups, including between peers, family, sports teams and cultural groups, and on social media.

The ease of communicating online provides opportunities for friendships and connections beyond the school environment but also makes it a source of online / cyberbullying. While most young people were aware of the risks associated with using social media, they felt these were often unavoidable.

School Experiences: Overcoming Challenges

Ryan Dawson-Bruce, Georgia Rudd, Elizabeth Peterson, Emma Marks, Caroline Walker, Kane Meissel

There is no universal experience of school, and no one is likely to have an easy time at school all of the time. Young people face many challenges in and out of school, and there is significant variation in what those challenges are and who experiences them.

One thing many young people agree on however is that having friends and ‘fitting in’ are key factors in the experience of school – anyone who is seen as not fitting in or is in any way ‘different’ becomes a target for bullying. Friendships are protective against bullying – having friends means that you are less likely to stand out from the crowd, and friends can stand up to bullies.

Our young people have good ideas about how to make school a more inclusive place to support those students who are having a tough time. It is important that initiatives to increase school engagement focus not only on learning and achievement but also students’ experiences in order to make school a positive place to be.

School Attendance: Enablers and Barriers

Sarah Simpson, Isabel Williamson, Georgia Rudd, Elizabeth Peterson, Caroline Walker, Emma Marks, Kane Meissel

Attendance data alone offers an incomplete picture of the factors that influence school attendance. Our findings highlight that young people bring a unique perspective to understanding enablers and barriers – perspectives that often diverge from those of parents, educators and policymakers.

Seeing friends, learning, preparing for the future and fulfilling parent expectations were some of the key motivators for young people to attend school. While most rangatahi felt happy about school, many think the education system does not work for everyone. Those who found it hard to go to school were more likely to report peer problems and feeling stressed, worried, and overwhelmed.

Our rangatahi have clear and important ideas about improving school experiences, including fostering school environments that can support, inspire, and help young people to build meaningful connections with each other, their teachers, and their learning.

THESES
Qiao, R. (2022). Association of Socioeconomic Factors with Childhood Depression from a Perspective of Machine Learning: Supervised Learning and Cluster Analysis. Master of Professional Studies in Data Science, University of Auckland.

Luo, J. (2022). Association of Socioeconomic Status with Childhood Depression in New Zealand. Master of Professional Studies in Data Science, University of Auckland.

Zhang, X. (2023). Sentiment Analysis and Topic Modelling of Open-ended Questions about Children’s Life during Lockdown. Master of Professional Studies in Data Science, University of Auckland.

CONFERENCES
Morton, S. (2023, July 20). Co-design with adolescents to create innovative digital tools to enhance longitudinal data collection. European Survey Research Association, Milan. 

Dobbie, G. (2023, December 12). Machine Learning for Social Good in Aotearoa New Zealand. Australasian Conference on Data Science and Machine Learning, Auckland. 

Meissel, K., Morton, S. (2024, March 5). Insights from co-design with adolescents to create innovative data collection and analytic tools. INTED2024 Proceedings (p. 6574). International Technology, Education and Development, Valencia.

Walker, C. (2024, September 1). Genetic association analysis for depression symptoms in a diverse cohort of New Zealand young people. Queenstown Research Week Mental Health Satellite, Queenstown.

Morton, S. (2024, September 25). Tō Mātou Rerenga – Our Journey Digital Platform – A New Way to Engage with Young People. 2024 SLLS Conference Abstract Book, p. 81). Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies, Colchester.

Walker, C. (2024, September 25). Multi-Modal Machine Learning to Enable High Throughput Qualitative Analysis of Wellbeing Information – Tō Mātou Rerenga – Our Journey. 2024 SLLS Conference Abstract Book, p. 81). Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies, Colchester.

Rudd, G. (2024, September 25). Young Peoples’ Understandings and Experiences of Wellbeing: Capturing Their Voices Using Thematic Analysis. 2024 SLLS Conference Abstract Book, p. 82). Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies, Colchester.

Meissel, K. (2024, September 25). Going Digital: Methodological Reflections and Considerations. 2024 SLLS Conference Abstract Book, p. 82). Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies, Colchester.