Associations between different forms of peer victimization and school absences: The moderating role of teacher attachment and perceived school safety

Given the significant negative impacts of peer victimization on youth development, studies have sought to understand what buffers against these consequences. To that end, the present study examined whether teacher attachment and perceptions of school safety moderated the associations between different forms of victimization and school absences over the course of an academic year among a sample of 272 high school students. Findings indicated that teacher attachment moderated the associations between relational and cyber victimization and absences, while perceived school safety moderated associations between relational victimization and absences. However, findings pertaining to cyber victimization were not as anticipated. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts in high schools are discussed.     

The cycle of victimization: The relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent peer victimization

Child maltreatment has been demonstrated to have many short- and long-term harmful consequences for victims, but whether or not child abuse is associated with an increased risk of peer victimization during adolescence is unclear. This study analyzed prospective data from 831 children and parents participating in the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) to investigate the relationships between child physical and sexual abuse and adolescent victimization by peers, as well as the potential for gender to moderate these relationships. Results from ordinal logit regression models indicated that children who were physically abused prior to age 12, based on official reports, parent reports, and child reports, had a greater risk of experiencing more intimidation and physical assault by peers at age 16. Having a history of sexual abuse predicted more physical assault but not intimidation. There was no evidence that gender moderated these relationships; in all cases, the relationship between abuse and revictimization was similar for boys and girls. The findings emphasize the need to provide victims of abuse with assistance to help prevent a cycle of victimization.     

Susceptibility to peer influence during middle school: Links with social support,peer harassment,and gender

The present study explores concurrent relations between social support, gender, susceptibility to peer influence, and peer-based aggression and harassment in a socioeconomically and racially diverse sample of 774 seventh and eighth grade students. Results indicate that students perceiving lower support from their family or school were relatively more likely to be highly susceptible to peer influence, and to have friends who they believed were also highly susceptible to peer influence. Further, higher susceptibility to peer influence was associated with increased involvement in relational aggression and sexual harassment, both as a perpetrator and as a victim. Gender moderation effects were also found. The negative association of school support and susceptibility to peer influence was found greater in girls than boys. Girls who were highly susceptible to peer influence, or who had friends who were highly susceptible, had a relatively greater risk for involvement in relational aggression and sexual harassment, as compared with boys. Implications of these results for educators and school-based mental health professionals are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

The relation of social skills and school climate of diversity to children's life satisfaction: The mediating role of school connectedness

The present study examined the role of school connectedness in mediating the relations of social skills and school climate of diversity (SCD) to life satisfaction (LS) among school‐aged children. This study also investigated whether there is any gender difference in relationships. Participants included 873 elementary school students in Grades 4 through 6. The results of the structural equation modeling supported the partial mediating role of school connectedness, indicating that social skills and SCD lead to LS both directly and indirectly through enhanced school connectedness. Multigroup analysis demonstrated that the direct path from the SCD to LS was significant only for boys, while other paths are invariant across gender. Implications are addressed for school‐based interventions to promote school connectedness and LS.     

Longitudinal inter-relations between school cultural socialization and school engagement: The mediating role of school climate

The question of whether schools should promote cultural pride and engage students in ethnic traditions is hotly contested. To contribute to this debate, this longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted adolescents' engagement in school over time and whether this relation was mediated by school climate. Data were collected in four waves during a two-year period from 254 African American fifth-graders (53.9% males; M_age = 10.95 at Wave 1) enrolled in three public middle schools. Results revealed that African American youth who reported more school cultural socialization also had greater school engagement over time. This longitudinal relation was fully mediated by youth's perceptions of school climate. Implications for how to promote African American youth's perceptions of schools as culturally sensitive and supportive environments are discussed.     

The role of the school climate in high school students’ mental health and identity formation: A South Australian study

The well‐documented increase in student mental health issues in Australia and growing recognition of the need for education to play a part in students’ identity formation prompted this study. The research reported in this article sought to identify specific elements of the school climate that were likely to influence the interplay of adolescent health and development and students’ identity formation. The aim was two‐fold. First, the study examined the relationships between students’ perceptions of the school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity; and, second, the interrelationships between the three outcome variables were explored. Two surveys, one to assess students’ perceptions of features of the school climate, and another to assess students’ wellbeing, resilience and moral identity, were administered to 618 Year 11 students from 15 independent schools in South Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate hypothesised relationships between students’ perceptions of their school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity. Our results indicated statistically significant and positive relationships between school‐climate factors and each of the three outcome variables. Further, indirect relationships (mediated largely by resilience) were found between school‐climate factors and students’ wellbeing. Our findings could be used to guide schools in building tangible, purposeful environments that engender well‐balanced, positive, resilient citizens with strong moral identities.     

Job satisfaction,school rule enforcement,and teacher victimization

Job satisfaction is an essential component of teacher motivation, performance, and retention. Teacher job satisfaction is primarily affected by workplace conditions. This paper analyzes data from over 37,000 public school teachers from the 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. Hierarchical ordinal logistic regression was utilized to analyze effects of school rule enforcement and teacher victimization on job satisfaction. Findings indicated that teachers who perceived higher enforcement of school rules had higher job satisfaction. In particular, consistent enforcement of rules by school administrators had a significantly greater effect on satisfaction than collegial enforcement of rules. Findings also indicated that teacher victimization has a significantly negative effect on job satisfaction. Consistent enforcement of school rules may reduce instances of student misbehavior and teacher victimization, helping reduce teacher stress and anxiety, leading to greater job satisfaction. Implications for policy and practice are explored, examining what administrators can do to protect teachers and improve satisfaction.     

School climate: perceptual differences between students,parents, and school staff

Research suggests that school climate can have a great impact on student, teacher, and school outcomes. However, it is often assessed as a summary measure, without taking into account multiple perspectives (student, teacher, parent) or examining subdimensions within the broader construct. In this study, we assessed school climate from the perspective of students, staff, and parents within a large, urban school district using multilevel modeling techniques to examine within- and between-school variance. After adjusting for school-level demographic characteristics, students reported worse perceptions of safety and connectedness compared to both parent and staff ratings (all p < 0.05). Parents gave the lowest ratings of parental involvement, and staff gave the lowest ratings of academic emphasis (ps < 0.05). Findings demonstrate the importance of considering the type of informant when evaluating climate ratings within a school. Understanding how perceptions differ between informants can inform interventions to improve perceptions and prevent adverse outcomes.     

School climate and exposure to bullying: a multilevel study

This study investigates associations between aspects of school climate, measured by students’ assessments aggregated to the class level, and exposure to bullying, measured at the individual level. The data were derived from the Stockholm School Survey of 2006–2010 with information from 16,418 ninth-grade students (aged 15–16 years) distributed over 871 classes and 259 schools. Three-level binary logistic regression was applied. Two of the studied school climate aspects in particular were linked with the occurrence of bullying: In classes where a high proportion of students claimed to be aware of the school rules and in classes where a high proportion of students stated that adults intervene against bullying, fewer students reported having been bullied. The findings imply that striving toward a school climate characterized by transparent rules and clear disapproval of harassments may help to reduce bullying.     

Perceived school climate and school grades in secondary school students: The mediating effect of self-determined motivation

Students’ perception of school climate plays an important role in the quality of their academic experience. However, the effects of perceived school climate on self-determined academic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2020) have received little empirical attention to this day. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the role of school climate in predicting changes in self-determined academic motivation and grades in a longitudinal study with secondary school students. Participants are 957 Belgian students (girls = 52.87 %; M_age = 14.41 years, SD_age = 1.66 years) who took part in a three-wave, year-long study. Results from structural equation modeling showed that students’ positive perceptions of school climate at the beginning of the study (Time 1) were positively related to changes in self-determined academic motivation at the mid-point (Time 2), which in turn were positively associated with changes in grades by the end of the study (Time 3), over and above the effects of gender and age. These results have implications for educational psychology by suggesting that organizational aspects of the school setting can positively influence students’ academic grades through increases in the quality of their motivation over time.     

A climate for self-efficacy: the relationship between school climate and teacher efficacy for inclusion

Teacher efficacy represents a key construct in exploring successful implementation of inclusive policy. Teachers’ impression of school climate is shown to relate to teacher efficacy; however, few studies pay due deference to its context/specific conceptualisation, with a particular lacuna in research noted in an Irish mainstream primary school context. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between school climate and efficacy for inclusion and whether this relationship impacts on perceptions of challenging behaviours, further identifying barriers to and supports for efficacious inclusive practice. Fifty-seven probated primary mainstream teachers in the Republic of Ireland responded to online questionnaires exploring perceptions of school climate, teacher efficacy for inclusion and challenging behaviours. Teachers’ perceptions of a supportive school climate related positively to their teaching efficacy for inclusion, in turn influencing their ratings of the severity of and their confidence in managing commonly experienced challenging behaviours in inclusive classrooms. Teachers looked within their school for support, few noting Educational Psychologists (EPs) as sources for support. These findings add weight to the importance of understanding the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their school climate and their efficacy for inclusion, addressing the dearth of research in an Irish context. In particular, these findings underline the potential offered by an understanding of teachers’ beliefs to inform and enhance the role of EPs in supporting efficacious inclusive practice.     

Trajectory subgroups of perceived emotional support from teachers: Associations with change in mastery climate and intentions to quit upper secondary school

The aims of this three-wave longitudinal study were to identify and describe trajectories of perceived emotional support from teachers and investigate whether these trajectories were related to the development of intentions to quit upper secondary school via change in perceived mastery climate. Among 1379 Norwegian upper secondary school students, three trajectory subgroups were identified: stable high (84.9%), decreasing (7.8%), and low increasing (7.3%). The subgroups differed in levels of achievement ambition and academic self-concept. Further, a parallel process latent growth curve model revealed essential associations with change in intentions to quit school. Specifically, students with high probabilities of membership in the decreasing emotional support subgroup appeared to be at particular risk, perceiving a decrease in mastery climate that was related to a worrying development of intentions to quit school. The results are discussed considering the importance of a sustained supportive learning environment for late adolescents.     

Peer victimization,deviant peer affiliation and impulsivity: Predicting adolescent problem behaviors

Abundant evidence has demonstrated an association between peer victimization and adolescent problem behaviors. However, there is a large gap in knowledge about the potential mediators that associate peer victimization with problem behaviors and the potential moderators that exacerbate or buffer this association. The current study examined whether deviant peer affiliation mediated the association between peer victimization and problem behaviors and whether the direct and indirect associations were moderated by impulsivity. A sample of 1401 adolescents (50.1% boys, 11–14 years old) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding peer victimization, impulsivity, deviant peer affiliation, and problem behaviors. Gender, age and socioeconomic status (SES) were controlled for in the analyses. Structural equation models showed that peer victimization was significantly associated with more problem behaviors, and this association was mediated by deviant peer affiliation. Impulsivity moderated both the direct association (peer victimization → problem behaviors) and the second stage of the indirect path (deviant peer affiliation → problem behaviors). Specifically, these associations were especially stronger for adolescents with higher impulsivity. Identifying the processes by which peer victimization is associated with adolescent problem behaviors has important implications for an integrative framework of theory and prevention.     

The development of school well-being in secondary school: High academic buoyancy and supportive class- and school climate as buffers

Students experience increasing pressure to perform well and worry about their academic performance before critical school transitions. These challenges may compromise students' school well-being. Drawing on the Model of Personality and Affect for Education (Matthews et al., 2005) as well as on the Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989), we investigated the buffering role of high academic buoyancy and supportive class- and school climate against decreases in school well-being (i.e., school-related stress, anti-school attitude, and satisfaction with school) among Finnish lower secondary school students (N = 1024) from grades seven to nine. Controlling for gender, fluid intelligence, and parental education, the results of latent structural equation models indicate that academic buoyancy contributed to school satisfaction, while class- and school climate buffered against the increase of anti-school attitude. The study underlines the importance of both personal and contextual factors, contributing differently to students’ school well-being.     

Measuring classroom climate: Validation of the CCQ-P for primary,middle school and high school levels,on the Romanian population

Several high-quality instruments are used for investigations on classroom climate. Out of these, none is valid on all three educational pre-tertiary levels (primary, middle school and high school). This situation limits our understanding about classroom climate along different educational levels. We collected responses on a large Romanian student sample (1003 students, 49.3 % boys), and we investigated the internal validity of the Classroom Climate Questionnaire – Primary (CCQ-P, Aldridge & Galos, 2018) using confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance analyses. The original model obtained a good fit and partially maintained structure across the three educational levels. Thus, this study opens the door for the investigation of this questionnaire for the three pre-university levels in other national contexts. This could impact how we look at the transition of students between levels and it could offer new input about the practical actions related to this process.     

A pernicious cycle: Finding the pathways from child maltreatment to adolescent peer victimization

The purpose of this study was to identify the pathways from childhood physical and sexual abuse to adolescent physical and sexual victimization by assessing behavior symptoms (both internalizing and externalizing) and peer popularity as potential mediating variables. The data derive from Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), which tracks the consequences of child abuse and neglect using five study sites across the US. Child physical and sexual abuse was measured at age 12 using self-reports of life-time maltreatment experiences. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed at age 12 using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Peer popularity was assessed at age 14 by teachers. Peer victimization was assessed at age 16 using the modified version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The results indicated that physical abuse had no direct effect on either physical or sexual peer victimization, whereas sexual abuse had significant direct effect on both physical and sexual victimization. Assessed at age 12, children who had been physically or sexually maltreated were found to have higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These increased symptoms are associated with lower peer popularity at age 14, which in turn is associated with greater physical and sexual peer victimization at age 16. The findings suggest that multiple points for interventions may exist to disrupt the cycle of victimization. Early assessment and treatment for externalizing symptoms and for low peer popularity may be helpful in preventing physical peer victimization among adolescents who have been physically and/or sexually abused.     

Preschool children's school adjustment: indicators of behaviour problems,gender, and peer victimisation

The relationships among school adjustment, victimisation, and gender were investigated with 284 Turkish children aged between five and six years. Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment, The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire, and Peer Victimisation Scale were used in this study. Analyses indicated that children's behaviour problems and victimisation variables were significant predictors of the school adjustment of children while controlling for gender.     

Exploring associations between supervisory support,teacher burnout and classroom emotional climate: the moderating role of pupil teacher ratio

Abstract

In previous studies on classroom emotional climate (CEC), factors related to teacher’s working conditions have rarely been included. Thus, in the current study, we examined associations between supervisory support, teacher burnout and CEC, and whether pupil teacher ratio (PTR) moderated this association, applying a randomised-control trial design. Participants were students from 300 classes at the end of grade 1, and 300 teachers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed significant relations between supervisory support and teacher burnout and between teacher burnout and CEC. Supervisory support was indirectly related to CEC through teacher burnout. Finally, PTR moderated the association between teacher burnout and CEC.     

The impact of extrafamilial victimization and poly-victimization on the psychological well-being of English young people

Childhood victimization impacts on the well-being of children and young people, particularly those experiencing an extreme amount of different types of victimization (i.e., poly-victims). However, limited attention has been given to the impact of different categories of extrafamilial victimization (experienced outside of the family), particularly in the UK. The intricacies of the significant detrimental impact poly-victimization has on victims are also poorly understood. In this study, 730 young people, aged 13 to 16 years (mean 13.8 years), from one county in the UK, were surveyed about their lifetime and past year experiences of extrafamilial victimization, the locations in which these occurred, and current trauma symptoms. The results showed that interpersonal forms of extrafamilial victimization (e.g., sexual victimization) were significant predictors of trauma, whilst more indirect forms of extrafamilial victimization (e.g., witnessing the victimization of others) were not. When extrafamilial poly-victimization and number of extrafamilial victim locations were accounted for within regression models, however, this impact was reduced. Poly-victimization within the past year was the strongest predictor of trauma symptoms. Number of victim locations did not significantly predict trauma symptoms above and beyond the impact of poly-victimization, although it was a contributory predictor. These findings suggest that a holistic exploration of a young person's extrafamilial victim experiences is needed in any clinical assessment or research into its psychological impact. Specifically, attention should be given to the experiencing of extreme levels of victimization (e.g., poly-victimization). Further longitudinal research is needed to understand why poly-victimization has the greatest impact on psychological well-being.