Classroom Size and the Prevalence of Bullying and Victimization: Testing Three Explanations for the Negative Association
Classroom Size and the Prevalence of Bullying and Victimization: Testing Three Explanations for the Negative Association
复制标题
DOI：
10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02125
复制
发表时间：
2019-09-20
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Salmivalli, Christina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Garandeau, Claire F.;Yanagida, Takuya;Salmivalli, Christina
教室规模（即班级中的学生人数）是课堂环境的一个特征，通常与欺凌或受害呈负相关。本研究探讨了这种负关联的三种可能解释：(a) 这是由于测量效应，因此仅在同行报告中发现（假设 1），(b) 欺凌行为者在较小的教室中更受欢迎，并且有更多的朋友（假设 2），(c) 欺凌目标在较大的教室中更受欢迎，并且有更多的朋友（假设 3）。对奥地利样本（1,451 名学生；Mage = 12.31；77 个班级）和荷兰样本（1,460 名学生；Mage = 11.06；59 个班级）进行多级回归分析。结果显示，在两个样本中，教室规模与同伴报告的欺凌和受害行为呈负相关，并且仅在荷兰样本中与自我报告的欺凌和受害行为呈负相关，这表明部分支持假设 1。在奥地利样本中，发现欺凌行为严重的学生在较小的教室中比在较大的教室中更受欢迎。在荷兰样本中，小教室里的受害和受欢迎程度之间的负相关性比大教室里的更强烈。然而，在这两个样本中，没有发现教室规模可以调节欺凌或受害与友谊之间的联系。假设 2 和 3 得到支持，但仅限于流行度和单个样本。需要进一步的研究来更好地了解许多研究中发现的较小教室中欺凌现象的较高发生率。
Classroom size - i.e., the number of students in the class - is a feature of the classroom environment often found to be negatively related to bullying or victimization. This study examines three possible explanations for this negative association: (a) it is due to measurement effects and therefore only found for peer-reports (Hypothesis 1), (b) bullying perpetrators are more popular and have more friends in smaller classrooms (Hypothesis 2), (c) targets of bullying are more popular and have more friends in larger classrooms (Hypothesis 3). Multilevel regression analyses were conducted on a sample from Austria (1,451 students; Mage = 12.31; 77 classes) and a sample from the Netherlands (1,460 students; Mage = 11.06; 59 classes). Results showed that classroom size was negatively associated with peer-reported bullying and victimization in both samples, and with self-reported bullying and victimization in the Dutch sample only, suggesting partial support for Hypothesis 1. Students high in bullying were found to be more popular in smaller than in larger classrooms in the Austrian sample. The negative link between victimization and popularity was found to be stronger in smaller classrooms than in larger classrooms in the Dutch sample. However, classroom size was not found to moderate links between bullying or victimization and friendship in either sample. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were supported, but only for popularity and in a single sample. Further research is needed to better understand the higher prevalence of bullying found in smaller classrooms in many studies.