For iPads or Against Bullies? (Pre)Adolescents' Proposed Solutions to a Complex School Policy Dilemma

• In Event: Leadership and Social Relationships in Adolescent Development

Abstract

This cross-sectional study explores how (pre-)adolescent students approach a school policy dilemma, examining the solutions they supply in argument in favor of or against a hypothetical decision by their principal to withdraw iPads from classrooms following a cyberbullying problem in their school. The project sheds light on the roles that students believe preventative and retrospective measures should play in constraining their and their peers’ behaviors and examines the relationship between those proposed solutions and students’ more systematically measured sociocognitive competence (specifically, social perspective-taking skills). We document a preference among older students for preventative measures and an emphasis among those with stronger sociocognitive skills on the role of personal responsibility in regulating classroom. Relevance to developmental theory and practice is discussed.

Authors

• Nan Mu, The University of Alabama

• Lisa Hsin, The University of Alabama