Teachers' Management of Peer Relations: Associations With Peer Support and Status Norms in Early Adolescent Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: Peers and Family as Context of Development

Abstract

This study examines the associations between teachers’ management of peer relations and students’ perceptions of two dimensions of the classroom peer ecology: peer support and self-perceived status norms. Participants were 714 fifth graders nested within 35 elementary classrooms who were 51% male and 89% White. Results suggest that teachers’ management of peer relations can facilitate supportive peer social interactions and cultivate positive academic status norms, while diminishing youths’ endorsement that rebellious behaviors are popular. Furthermore, perceptions that rebellious students, but not academic students, are popular, formed a reliable aggregate to characterize classroom status norms. Findings highlight potential avenues to develop a richer understanding of teachers’ role in shaping classroom peer dynamics in early
adolescence.

Authors

• Jessica Kilday, University of Michigan

• Nicole Brass, University of Missouri

• Sharlyn Ferguson, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Allison M. Ryan, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor