Impact of school climate and family health climate on students’ lifestyles

Abstract

Background: The interaction of family health climate (FHC) and school climate demonstrates a complementary and pivotal role in shaping adolescents’ lifestyles. The current study aimed to identify the indirect, direct, and total effects of family health climate and school climate on students’ lifestyle. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design and convenience sampling method selected 400 students from eight preparatory schools in Al-Kut city, Wasit Governorate, Iraq. The inferential statistical measures included regression analysis, which was used to identify the study objectives. Adolescent Lifestyle Profile-Revised 2 and Family Health Climate Scale (FHC-scale) were used to collect data during the period spanning from November 19, 2024, to February 28, 2025. Results: Students’ mean age was 16.64 years; fathers’ education levels ranged from middle to higher education. In a simple regression model, “healthy family climate” had a significant positive effect on students’ lifestyle ( β = 0.3219 , p < .001). When combining the variables “family health climate” and “school climate” in a multiple regression model, the amount of explained variance in lifestyle increased to approximately 29.8% (R² = 0.2977, p < .001). Family health climate had the most significant effect, with a coefficient of 1.0149 (p < .001), compared to a coefficient of 0.3316 for school climate (p = .0001). Conclusions: Findings reveal that the family climate plays the most important and influential role in shaping healthy lifestyles, especially when positive values, cohesion, and consensus characterize its internal environment. School climate, on the other hand, provides a complementary environment that reinforces these trends when it provides the elements of a supportive climate. These findings highlight the importance of integrating family and educational efforts to promote a comprehensive and sustainable healthy lifestyle among individuals.