Unraveling the patterns of marginalization: Four quantitative studies on students' experience of social marginalization in Danish public schools

Empirical research suggests that children who experience social marginalization in school (i.e., feel left out, excluded, or that they simply do not belong) generally experience lower well-being and have lower-quality relationships with both teachers and peers. Unfortunately, there is scant knowledge on the complex patterns of marginalization, making it difficult to develop general strategies to tackle the issue. To fill this knowledge gap, this dissertation presents four quantitative studies that utilize survey data from Program for Learning Management (PLM; 2015–2019), which to date is the largest school development program in Danish educational history. By conducting state-of-the-art multivariate analyses (incl. structural equation modeling), an instrument for measuring the construct is developed, resulting in quantitative knowledge on the intricate patterns of marginalization. As a result, this dissertation points to some key mechanisms underlying social marginalization. In addition, it provides theoretical and methodological directions for future research.