Friend and Foe: Negative Behavior in Elementary School Peer Groups

• In Event: 434 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Peer Groups: Formation and Implications

Abstract

In the past two decades, schools across the country have committed to taking the problem of bullying seriously. What it means to take bullying seriously, however, is up for debate. Many schools may have signs designating hallways and classrooms as “Bully-Free Zones” while ignoring the potentially negative interactions that are a daily part of life at school for students. A group of friends, for example, may tease each other playfully, but they may also say things that are intended to harm each other under the guise of friendship. This paper builds on previous ethnographic work exploring the ways that school cultures contribute to the normalization of potentially negative behavior to examine the ways that potentially negative behavior such as teasing is used by a group of popular fifth grade boys at a rural elementary school. I find that those on the margins of a friendship group are more likely to have potentially negative behavior directed toward them and are more likely to direct potentially negative behavior toward each other. These interactions are made possible by the norm of negative behavior that exists in this school and supported by the need for students to adhere to a norm of masculinity that prevents them from voicing concerns about behavior that they perceive as negative.

Author

• Brent Harger, Albright College