2-082 - Student behavior and social interactions beyond the classroom: Examining the lunchroom, playground, and other school settings

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Schools are a critical context for children’s and adolescent’s social and behavioral development and while a great deal of research has examined social processes in the classroom, less attention has been focused on other school micro-contexts, such as the lunchroom and playground. These settings tend to be less structured, to include more opportunity for peer interactions, and to be supervised by staff of widely varying backgrounds and knowledge of child development. This symposium will examine how students behave, relate to peers, and interact with adults outside the classrooms.

The first paper will report results from a study of students in 20 middle schools and will examine whether students’ perceptions of the climate of specific micro-contexts, such as the lunchroom, schoolyard, gym, hallways, and classrooms, are better predictors of student problem behavior than students’ perceptions of the general school climate. Paper two will present results demonstrating that early adolescents’ engagement with cross-race peers varies by school micro-context, with, for example, more cross-race peer interactions in recess than expected. Additional analyses will examine the psychosocial predictors of students’ engagement with cross and same-race peers across school micro-contexts. The third paper will describe results from an experimental study of 37 elementary schools, demonstrating that students’ rule violations vary significantly across schools micro-contexts, including the hallway, lunchroom, playground, and school entrances, with the highest rates of rule violations observed in more crowded settings. Taken together these papers illustrate the importance of school settings outside the classroom for children’s behavior and relationships.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Maria D LaRusso, Harvard University

Discussant

• Edward Seidman, William T. Grant Foundation

Individual Presentations

• Variation in the social climate of middle school micro-contexts: Implications for student problem behaviors - Presenting Author: Maria D LaRusso, Harvard University; Stephanie M Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Joshua L Brown, Fordham University; J. Lawrence Aber, New York University

• Prevalence and Patterns of Intergroup Peer Relations at Lunch and Recess - Presenting Author: Elise Cappella, New York University; Meghan Patricia McCormick, New York University; Diane L Hughes, New York University

• Students’ Rule Violations in Non-Classroom Settings Vary By Location and Student Density - Presenting Author: Anne Henry Cash, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Catherine P Bradshaw, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health