Claire F. Garandeau

Effects of Classroom Embeddedness and Density on the Social Status of Aggressive and Victimized Children

This study investigated the independent and interacting effects of classroom-level embeddedness (i.e., hierarchical vs. egalitarian) and classroom density on the perceived popularity and social preference of aggressive and victimized 3rd-4th grade students (N = 881). A cohesive blocking procedure was used to compute embeddedness. Multilevel analyses indicated that aggressive children achieved much higher perceived popularity in hierarchical classrooms with high density. While children with high victimization scores were unpopular across classrooms, they were least unpopular in egalitarian classrooms with high density. Furthermore, aggressive children were more disliked in low-density classrooms, and victimized children were more disliked in hierarchical classrooms. Implications for educational management of classroom social structures are discussed.

The Social Status of Aggressive Students across Contexts: The Role of Classroom Status Hierarchy, Academic Achievement, and Grade.

This study tested the effects of 5 classroom contextual features on the social status (perceived popularity and social preference) that peers accord to aggressive students in late elementary school, including classroom peer status hierarchy (whether within-classroom differences in popularity are large or small), classroom academic level, and grade level as the main predictors of interest as well as classroom aggression and ethnic composition as controls. Multilevel analyses were conducted on an ethnically diverse sample of 968 fourth- and fifth-graders from 46 classrooms in 9 schools. Associations between aggression and status varied greatly from one classroom to another. Aggressive students were more popular and better liked in classrooms with higher levels of peer status hierarchy. Aggressive students had higher social status in Grade 5 than in Grade 4 and lower social preference in classrooms of higher academic level. Classroom aggression and ethnic composition did not moderate aggression-status associations. Limitations and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

School Bullies’ Intention to Change Behavior Following Teacher Interventions: Effects of Empathy Arousal, Condemning of Bullying, and Blaming of the Perpetrator

This study examines how bullies’ perceptions of how they were treated by a teacher (or other school personnel) during discussions aimed at putting an end to bullying influenced their intention to change their behavior. After each discussion, which took place as part of the implementation of an anti-bullying program, bullies anonymously reported the extent to which they felt that the teacher aroused their empathy for the victim, condemned their behavior, or blamed them. Half of the schools implementing the program were instructed to handle these discussions in a confrontational way—telling the bully that his behavior is not tolerated—while the other half were instructed to use a non-confronting approach. Schools were randomly assigned to one of the two approaches. A total of 341 cases (188 in primary and 153 in secondary schools) handled in 28 Finnish schools were analyzed. Regression analyses showed that attempts at making bullies feel empathy for the victim and condemning their behavior both increased bullies’ intention to stop. Blaming the bully had no significant effect. Bullies’ intention to change was the lowest when both empathy-arousal and condemning behavior were low. The effects of empathy arousal were stronger when condemning the behavior was low (and vice versa), suggesting that teachers tackling bullying should make sure to use at least one of these strategies. When choosing not to raise the child’s empathy, clear reprobation of the behavior is key.

A description and illustration of the Triadic Relations Model: Who perceives whom as bullying whom?

Analyses of children’s peer relations have recently begun considering interpersonal behaviors and perceptions from the perspective of the Social Relations Model. An extension of this model, the Triadic Relations Model (TRM), allows for consideration and analysis of more complex three-person data to understand triadic processes; separate individual, dyadic, and triadic variance; and model co-occurrences among dyadic phenomena. The goal of this article is to provide a didactic introduction to the TRM and its potential for studying peer relations. The TRM is applied to data from nine classes (N = 162) of third and fourth grade boys and girls involving perceptions (peer nominations) of actors’ (aggressors’) behavior toward partners (victims). We report and illustrate interpretation of 7 variance and 16 covariance estimates from this TRM analysis of who perceives whom as bullying whom. In particular, triadic analyses revealed a tendency for children to perceive others as sharing the same aggressors and the same targets for aggression as themselves. We discuss implications of findings for studying aggression, as well as extensions of this model, such as incorporating multiple constructs or connecting the TRM estimates with individual and dyadic variables, and challenges of using the TRM.

Decreases in the proportion of bullying victims in the classroom: Effects on the adjustment of remaining victims

Sharing a classroom environment with other victimized peers has been shown to mitigate the adverse effects of peer victimization on children’s social and psychological adjustment. By extension, this study hypothesized that classroom reductions in the proportion of victims would be harmful for children who remain victimized. Data were collected at the end of 2 subsequent school years from 4,466 fourth- to sixth-graders (mean age = 11 years), as part of the implementation of the Finnish anti-bullying program KiVa (an acronym for Kiusaamista Vastaan, “against bullying”). Multiple regression analyses were conducted on a subsample of 170 stable victims (children reporting being victimized at least 2–3 times a month at both time points) to test whether a decrease in the proportion of victims in their classrooms had an effect on their adjustment at Time 2. Stable victims felt more depressed, more socially anxious and were less liked at Time 2 in classrooms where the proportion of victims had decreased in 1 year compared to stable victims in classrooms where it had increased or remained the same. These effects were not moderated by the intervention status of the classroom. Paradoxically, an improved social environment can be detrimental for some children. These findings point to the necessity to maintain anti-bullying intervention efforts especially when successful.