School Connectedness and Mental Health in Vietnamese Secondary School Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Social-Emotional Competence

Background: School connectedness is a critical factor influencing adolescent mental health. However, the mechanisms through which its multidimensional components, such as teacher support, peer support, social participation, and perceived safety, influence well-being in Vietnam remain underexplored. Objective: This study examined the mechanism through which multidimensional school connectedness influences the mental health of Vietnamese adolescents. Method: Drawing on a cross-sectional sample of 395 lower secondary students (Mage = 12.3, SD = 1.05) from public secondary schools in Vietnam, the study first validated the component structure of the school connectedness scale using principal component analysis (PCA) with Promax rotation. Mediation analyses were then conducted using the PROCESS macro to examine the role of social-emotional competence. Results: The analysis identified a clear four-component structure of the scale, accounting for a substantial proportion of the variance (55.46%) and indicating good construct validity (KMO = .90; Bartlett’s test, p < .001). ­Mediation analyses revealed that social-emotional competence significantly mediated the relationship between school connectedness and mental health. Specifically, the indirect effects were robust (ab = -.16 to -.21, 95% CI [-.33, -.07]), whereas several direct effects became non-significant after the mediator was included. Conclusion and Implications: School connectedness may support adolescent mental health partly through the development of social-emotional competence. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening supportive school environments and implementing school-based social-emotional learning interventions to promote student mental health.