School Wellness & Discipline in Oregon High Schools

Introduction: Education is a social determinant of health, and its intersection with incarceration is a powerful nexus for well-being of students. Whether policies specific to student well-being are associated with exclusionary discipline, a documented risk factor for incarceration, is unknown. This study has three aims: (1) to identify whether there is an association between local school wellness policies’ (LWPs) quality and exclusionary discipline incidents (EDIs) in Oregon high schools; (2) if the quality of specific policy domains (i.e., nutrition education and physical activity) is associated with EDIs; and (3) to determine if total LWP quality moderates the association between out of school suspensions and days missed due to suspension. Methods: Data for Oregon high schools’ LWPs were collected in 2017 and cross-matched to public, school-level student demographic data from the Oregon Department of Education in 2017 and enrollment and suspension data from the Office of Civil Rights Data Collection were collected for 2017-2018 year. Including post hoc analyses, ten multiple regression models were created to examine variation in EDIs. All models were adjusted for relevant covariates. Results: Total LWP quality was not significantly associated with EDIs, nor was the quality of either Nutrition Education or Physical Education/Physical activity LWP domains. Post-hoc exploratory analyses revealed the strength of Standards for USDA Nutrition Programs and School Meals domain was negatively associated with EDIs (Cohen’s f2 = 0.05) as was comprehensiveness of the Wellness Promotion and Marketing domain (Cohen’s f2 = 0.15). The strength of Wellness Promotion and Marketing was positively associated with EDIs (Cohen’s f2 = 0.06). Total LWP quality was not associated with days missed due to suspension, and there was no moderating interaction detected. Conclusion: The quality of two specific LWP domains, rather than total LWP quality, may matter in regard to EDIs in Oregon high schools. Results could aid informed policy decision making for promoting health equity on district and state levels. Future research should identify if these associations are present in other states.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Oregon

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Terral, Heather

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Budd, Elizabeth

• Child
• Exercise
• Health Policy
• Health Promotion/ standards
• Punishment
• Schools/ standards

Statement dc:rights

• All Rights Reserved.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27597

OAI record oai:identifier

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Ascholarsbank.uoregon.edu%3A1794%2F27597