School Diversity Perspectives and Classmate Diversity Climate - Understanding High School Students' School Belonging, Well-Being, and Intercultural Contact

Aug 22, 2026

This study examines how school diversity perspectives—multiculturalism, critical consciousness, and color-evasion—relate to students’ outcomes: school belonging, well-being, and intercultural contact. It also tests whether classmates’ diversity climate, defined by openness and appreciation of diversity, moderates these relationships. Using surveys of 280 Dutch high school students, multigroup structural equation modeling and multilevel analyses separate individual- and classroom-level effects across cultural minority and majority groups.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Research aims and background

Methods

Participants and design

Analytic approach

Results

Links between perspectives, climate, and outcomes

Moderation by classmates’ diversity climate

Discussion

Implications for school-level and classroom-level practices

School Diversity Perspectives and Classmate Diversity Climate: Understanding High School Students' School Belonging, WellBeing, and Intercultural Contact Author(s) Vietze, Jana; Stuur, Nina; Hofhuis, Joep DOI 10.1002/jcop.70082 Publication date 2026 Document Version Final published version Published in Journal of community psychology License CC BY Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Vietze, J. , Stuur, N. , & Hofhuis, J. (2026) . School Diversity Perspectives and Classmate Diversity Climate: Understanding High School Students' School Belonging, Well-Being, and Intercultural Contact. Journal of community psychology , 54(1), Article e70082 . [https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.70082](https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.70082) General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons) . Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please contact the library: [https://www.amsterdamuas.com/l](https://www.amsterdamuas.com/l)ibrary/contact, or send a letter to: University Library (Library of the University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences), Secretariat, P.O. Box 19185, 1000 GD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Download date:22 Aug 2026 Journal of Community Psychology RESEARCH ARTICLE School Diversity Perspectives and Classmate Diversity Climate: Understanding High School Students' School Belonging, Well‐Being, and Intercultural Contact Jana Vietze1 | Nina Stuur1 | Joep Hofhuis1,2 1Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | 2Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Correspondence: Jana Vietze ([vietze@essb.eur.nl](vietze@essb.eur.nl)) Received: 13 February 2025 | Revised: 18 December 2025 | Accepted: 22 December 2025 Keywords: adolescence | diversity climate | ethnic minority | intercultural contact | school belonging | school diversity perspectives | well‐being ABSTRACT This study examined how school diversity perspectives (multiculturalism, critical consciousness, color‐evasion) may enhance student outcomes (school belonging, well‐being, intercultural contact) and whether a strong diversity climate among classmates (openness and appreciation of diversity) may moderate this link. We surveyed N = 280 high school students (Mage = 15.95; 47.5% female; 1.8% nonbinary) in the Netherlands. We performed multigroup structural equation modeling, comparing cultural minority (n = 81) and majority (n = 203) students, and multilevel analysis to separate individual‐level from classroom‐level effects. A strong diversity climate among classmates and color‐evasion in school (not multiculturalism and critical consciousness) were robustly, positively related to belonging and well‐being (minority and majority students) and intercultural contact (minority students) . For all students, a strong diversity climate among classmates amplified the relation between color‐ evasion with student outcomes. Findings highlight the need to distinguish school‐level policies from classroom‐level practices in addressing educational inequities between minority and majority students. 1 | Introduction The Netherlands is an increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse society, due to an influx of migrants from different parts of the globe and their descendants. The resulting ethnic and cultural diversity among the Dutch population has a significant impact on the educational system, which is slow to respon

FAQs

What diversity perspectives are examined in the study?

The study focuses on multiculturalism, critical consciousness, and color-evasion as school diversity perspectives. It evaluates how these relate to student outcomes.

How does classmates’ diversity climate affect the proposed relationships?

A strong diversity climate among classmates—openness and appreciation of diversity—moderates links between school-level perspectives and outcomes. It amplifies the relation involving color-evasion for all students.

What is the core methodological approach of the study?

The study surveys 280 high school students and uses multigroup structural equation modeling to compare cultural minority and majority students. It also applies multilevel analysis to distinguish individual-level from classroom-level effects.

Aug 22, 2026

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