Classroom Behavioral Norms, Problem Behavior and Social Status in Special Education

• In Event: 2-090 - Classroom Peer Environment Effects on the Social Situation of Students With Special Educational Needs

Integrative Statement

The extent to which pupils with problem behaviors are rejected or accepted by their classmates is not only influenced by individual characteristics, but also by characteristics of the classroom context (e.g. Chang, 2004; Stormshak et al., 1999). One of these characteristics is the classroom-level of problem behaviors, which is referred to as descriptive or behavioral norms (Henry et al., 2000). Researchers have used the ‘person-group similarity model’ (Wright, Giammarino & Parad, 1986) to explain the influence of descriptive norms on pupils’ acceptance or rejection by classmates. Studies in regular education show that pupils with high levels of problem behaviors are less rejected and more accepted in classrooms in which these behaviors are normative (Sentse et al., 2007, Stormshak et al., 1999). Not much is known about these processes in special education, with pupils with Emotional and Behavioral Disturbances (EBD). This study investigated the moderating role of behavioral norms on concurrent associations between behavior (externalizing problems, internalizing problems and attention-hyperactivity problems) and social status (acceptance, rejection) in special education.
The sample included roughly 480 pupils (88% boys, Mage Time1=11.56 years, SD=.84) attending 37 5th and 6th grade classrooms from 13 Dutch schools for special education. Data were gathered twice within one school year (February and June). Acceptance and rejection were assessed by peer nominations, with individual scores of acceptance and rejection being standardized within classrooms. Externalizing, internalizing and attention problems, were assessed by teachers with the Brief Problem Monitor (Achenbach et al., 2011). Classroom-level behavioral norms were operationalized by computing mean levels of classroom behavior for each of the behavioral measures.
Several multilevel models were performed. First, individual-level models were specified with the three behavior problem measures as well as gender and age as individual-level predictors of acceptance and rejection. Classroom-level behaviors were also included in the models to predict the slope of the behavior-social status associations within each classroom. Individual-level variables were group-mean centered and classroom-level variables were grand-mean centered (Enders & Tofighi, 2007). Table 1 presents within-classroom associations between behavior and social status (acceptance, rejection) on T1 and T2 for the individual-level and full models, as well as the between-level effects on the within classroom slope of the behavior-social status associations. The results indicated that only the rejection models improved by including classroom-level behaviors. Figure 1 shows significant cross-level interactions. The associations between attention-hyperactivity problems and rejection were attenuated in classrooms with higher levels of this behavior. Pupils with higher levels of attention-hyperactivity problems were less rejected in classrooms with high levels of this behavior. At T1, the internalizing-rejection association was moderated by classroom-level behavior. Social status of externalizing pupils was not moderated by classroom-level behavior. Pupils with externalizing behavior were rejected regardless behavioral norms. Altogether, the results indicated limited support for a ‘person-group similarity model’ in special education, particularly concerning attention-hyperactivity problems. For certain behaviors, such as externalizing behaviors, high levels of problem behavior may be associated to serious social skill deficits (‘social skill model’), leading to rejection of pupils regardless behavioral norms in the classroom.

Authors

• Fanny de Swart, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Presenting Author

• Ron Scholte, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marc J. M. H. Delsing, Praktikon, Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Esther van Efferen, CED-Groep, Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Heleen van der Stege, CED-Groep, Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wendy Nelen, Praktikon
  Non-Presenting Author

• William Burk, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author