We examined whether inclusive classroom norms predicted children's reasoning and expectations about the inclusion of peers with learning difficulties from different perspectives (i.e., self, friends, ...and unfamiliar story protagonist). Swiss elementary school children (N = 1019; 51% girls; Mage = 10.20 years; Grades 3–6) shared their perceptions of inclusive classroom norms and answered questions regarding the inclusion of a character with learning difficulties in an academic scenario. Multilevel analyses revealed that children expected less inclusion from their friends (estimated OR = 0.14, p < .001) or the unfamiliar story protagonist (estimated OR = 0.15, p < .001) than from themselves. Inclusive classroom norms positively predicted children's own (estimated OR = 3.17, p = .041) and their friends' inclusion expectations (estimated OR = 4.59, p = .007). Moreover, individuals who perceived higher inclusive norms than the classroom average were less concerned that the inclusion of the child with learning difficulties would threaten successful group functioning (γ = − 0.19, p = .011). To target the inclusion of children with learning difficulties, school psychologists can heighten classmates' perceptions of inclusive norms and pay attention to individual differences in norm perception.
Defending a victimized peer is a socially risky behavior that may require high peer status and may depend on how popular or disliked bullies are in the classroom (i.e., within-classroom correlations ...between bullying and status). Past research has investigated defending as a unidimensional construct, though it can involve confronting the bully (bully-oriented defending) or supporting the victim (victim-oriented defending). This study used multilevel modeling to examine the effects of individual peer status, gender, and bullying as well as two indicators of classroom norms—the bullying-popularity norm and the bullying-rejection norm—on both types of defending. Our sample included 1,460 Dutch adolescents (50% girls; M
age 11 years) from 59 classrooms in 50 schools. Likability and popularity were positively associated with both types of defending. Being female and lower in bullying was associated with victim-oriented defending, whereas being male and higher in bullying was associated with bully-oriented defending. In classrooms where bullies were more rejected, both types of defending were more prevalent, and the positive associations of likability and popularity with victim-oriented defending were stronger. The positive effect of the bullying-rejection norm on victim-oriented defending was stronger for girls. Moreover, the effect of popularity on bully-oriented defending was stronger in classrooms where bullies were less popular.
•Peer-perceived teacher liking/disliking were studied as predictors of peer status.•The teacher made the strongest difference for students at risk of low peer status.•Particularly teacher disliking ...moderated behavior–status associations.•Classroom norms of teacher liking/disliking directly predicted peer status.•Classroom norms of teacher liking moderated aggression–disliking associations.
This study investigated how peer perceptions of teacher liking and disliking for a student shape students’ social cognitions by moderating associations between the student’s peer-perceived social behavior and peer liking and disliking status. We studied individual teacher liking and disliking as well as classroom norms as moderators of individual and classroom-level behavior-status associations. Peer nominations of (dis)liking, being (dis)liked by the teacher, and prosocial and aggressive behavior were gathered from 1454 students (Mage=10.60) in 58 fifth-grade classes in the Netherlands. Results from multilevel analyses showed the teacher made a difference in particular for those students who were at-risk of low peer status, that is, those students who were perceived by many of their peers to show aggressive behavior and by few to show prosocial behavior. These students were disliked less and liked more when they were perceived by peers to be less disliked and more liked by the teacher. Furthermore, the amount of disliking associated with overt and relational aggression differed across classrooms, depending on norms of teacher liking. These findings may help teachers to understand and improve an individual student’s peer status, and alter the behavior–status dynamics in their class.
This study examined whether the degree to which bullying is normative in the classroom would moderate associations between intra- (cognitive and affective empathy, self-efficacy beliefs) and ...interpersonal (popularity) factors and defending behavior. Participants were 6,708 third- to fifth-grade children (49% boys; Mage = 11 years) from 383 classrooms. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that children were more likely to defend in response to their affective empathy in classrooms with high levels of bullying. In addition, popular students were more likely to support victims in classrooms where bullying was associated with social costs. These findings highlight the importance of considering interactions among individual and contextual influences when trying to understand which factors facilitate versus inhibit children's inclinations to defend others.
Previous studies have primarily concentrated on the factors influencing bullying at the individual level; few studies have explored it at the collective level. To fill this research gap, this ...research explored the relationship between classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying, the moderating role of group identity, and the mediating role of collective moral disengagement and collective guilt at the class level. This is a cross-sectional study, a total of 1025 middle school students in 29 classes in China were surveyed in the fall semester of 2020 (
M
age
= 14.82 years; 49% female). The results confirmed that: (1) classroom norms of bullying were positively correlated with group school bullying; (2) group identity moderated the relationship between classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying; (3) this moderating effect is owing to the mediating effect of collective moral disengagement and collective guilt. Hence, the role of classroom norms, as well as students’ moral cognition and emotion, should be considered in the prevention and intervention of group school bullying.
This study investigated the role of behavioral norms on concurrent links between problem behaviors (externalizing problems, internalizing problems, attention–hyperactivity problems) and social status ...(acceptance, rejection) in special education classrooms at four time points within and across school years. Two opposing models were considered, the “person–group similarity model,” suggesting moderation of behavioral norms, and the “social skill model,” suggesting no moderation. The sample included a total of 580 pupils (88% boys, Mage Time1 = 10.82 years, SD = .86) attending 37 classrooms from 13 Dutch schools for special education. Multilevel analyses revealed that the data generally supported a “social skill model,” meaning that higher individual levels of attention–hyperactivity problems and externalizing problems were related to lower acceptance and higher rejection, independent of behavioral norms. Support for behavioral norms as moderators of the link between individual behaviors and social status was limited to pupils with attention–hyperactivity problems being less rejected in classrooms in which this behavior was normative. In sum, these results provide an initial exploration of the role of behavioral norms in special education. Various explanations for the results, including special education characteristics and the value of behavioral norms, are discussed.
Aggressive behavior is generally detrimental to children's friendships, both in terms of having friends and in terms of keeping friends. Despite this general tendency, many aggressive children have ...friends and some of these friendships are stable. We examined the moderating role of preference norms in the classroom and child's sex in the association between children's physical and relational aggression and their friendship experiences. A total of 1135 children (M = 10.24 years, SD = 1.01) in Grades 4 to 6 completed a peer nomination inventory in the Fall (T1) and Spring (T2) of the same school year. Norms were operationalized as the class‐ and sex‐specific correlation between physical or relational aggression and social preference. Norms moderated associations between each form of aggression and number of friends. At T1, physical and relational aggression were concurrently associated with having more friends when norms favored this behavior and with fewer friends when norms were unfavorable. The latter effect was especially pronounced in girls. Over time, youth lost friends when norms favored physical aggression and gained friends when norms favored relational aggression. T1 friends' physical and relational aggression were strong predictors of new friends' aggressive behavior, suggesting that friends provide a type of norm more significant to new friend selection than norms of the peer group and individual aggressive behavior. Overall, our results suggest that physical and relational aggression are not necessarily detrimental to children's friendship experiences and may even be beneficial in specific social contexts.
The purpose of this study was to simultaneously investigate student-, classroom-, and school-level risk factors for victimization. Both peer nominations and students' self-reports of victimization ...were utilized. The sample consisted of 6731 Finnish elementary school students (3386 girls and 3345 boys) nested in 358 classrooms in 74 schools. The participants were from Grades 3, 4, and 5 (mean age 11years). The results of multilevel analyses indicated that there was considerable variability in, and distinctive risk factors associated with, both peer- and self-reported victimization at all the three levels investigated. Social anxiety and peer rejection synergistically predicted victimization at the student level. At the classroom level, negative social outcome expectations of defending the victim were associated with an increased risk of a student being bullied. Victimization was also common in classrooms and schools where students perceived their teachers to have less disapproving attitudes toward bullying. Furthermore, the effects of the student-level predictors were found to vary across classrooms, and classroom size moderated the effects of social anxiety and peer rejection on victimization. By identifying the risk factors at the multiple levels, and looking into cross-level interactions among these factors, research can help to target interventions at the key ecological factors contributing to victimization, making it possible to maximize the effectiveness of interventions.
We investigated effects of classroom-level norms and individual competitive attitudes on children's exclusion of hypothetical peers with behavior or academic difficulties. Upper elementary school ...children (N=1009) from Switzerland were presented with four scenarios about social exclusion at two time points (fifth and sixth grade). These scenarios varied according to difficulty type of exclusion target (low-achieving vs. hyperactive) and context of exclusion (academic vs. social). Multilevel analyses revealed that children were more likely to exclude hypothetical hyperactive peers than low-achieving peers for reasons of effective group functioning. When children transferred to the sixth grade, they became more likely to coordinate the type of difficulty of the exclusion target with the context of exclusion. Moreover, competitive classroom-level norms and individual attitudes positively predicted the exclusion of low-achieving children. To improve social inclusion, teachers can encourage learning environments, where children learn to integrate effective academic group functioning with fairness principles.
•1009 children were investigated within a two-wave study (fifth and sixth grade).•Children exclude more hypothetical hyperactive than low-achieving peers.•With grade children increasingly consider the context of exclusion.•Classroom competitive norms predict the exclusion of low-achieving children.•Teachers can encourage children to integrate academic goals and fairness principles.
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