Preferred social organization of learning formats among pupils experiencing different kinds of internalizing problems in secondary school

The aims of this study were to investigate the dimensionality of internalizing problems among secondary high school pupils and to find out about their preferences for the social organization of learning formats. We wanted to see if preferences varied for pupils reporting different kinds of internalizing problems. Five hundred and one pupils in Grades 8, 9 and 10 (aged 13-16 years) from two secondary schools in a city in the south of Norway participated in the study. The results indicate that internalizing problems can be sub-divided into symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety and social passive behaviour. We found a high association between symptoms of depression and symptoms of anxiety. However, scores for social passivity showed relatively low associations with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Our results indicated that all pupils with internalizing difficulties had lower than average negative preferences for most of the learning formats. Our results also suggest that depressed pupils have a particularly low preference for individual work, whereas socially passive pupils are most negative about whole class interactions.