Poster #84 - Classroom Social Network Characteristics, Relational Aggression and Victimization Behaviors, and Developmental Implications for Young Children

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Background
Early victimization can compromise the development of young children (e.g., Arseneault et al., 2006). Unfortunately, aggression and victimization are prevalent in early educational settings (children identified as aggressors/victims (dual roles included): 27%/29%, Monk et al., 2005; 23-32%/ 19-28%, Perren & Alsaker, 2006). Relational aggression is the most common form of bullying in early childhood (Kirves & Sajaniemi, 2012; Monks et al., 2005). Despite that the fact that aggression and victimization has been associated with characteristics of classroom networks (e.g., network centralization) (Aguilar-Pardo1 et al., 2022; Martín Babarro et al., 2017), few studies have been conducted in early childcare settings. In addition, there is a mismatch in perceptions of teachers (Psalti, 2017) and children (Helgeland & Lund, 2017) regarding relational victimization.

Research Questions
This study examined: (1) the associations between classroom social network characteristics and relational aggression/victimization at the end of the kindergarten year, (2) how relational aggression/victimization at the beginning of kindergarten moderates these associations, and (3) how relational aggression/victimization are associated with children’s social and academic development over the kindergarten year.

Methods
The analytical sample involved 647 children (315 girls and 332 boys; age: M = 67.3 months, SD = 4.5 months) from 43 kindergarten classrooms in a Midwest state in the U.S. The median household income was between $40,001 and $80,000. In kindergarten fall (T1) and spring (T2), teachers reported children’s relational aggression (Crick et al., 1997), relational victimization (Crick et al., 1999), and peer social skills (T-CRS, Perkins & Hightower, 2002). Child direct assessments on literacy and math skills were tested at T1 and T2 using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ-III; Woodcock et al., 2001). At T2, three classroom-level social network characteristics were calculated based on Teacher-rated Peer Interactions (TRPI, Chen et al., 2019, 2020): density represents the degree of social connectedness; centralization describes the extent to which the cohesion of a classroom is organized around particular students; transitivity captures network cohesiveness, showing the tendency that any two children who play with each other have a common playmate thus forming tightly connected cliques (Carolan, 2014).

Results
Teacher-report classroom play networks that were more egalitarian (low centralization) and transitive (high transitivity) tended to show reduced relational aggression and victimization over the kindergarten year (Table 1). Nevertheless, for children with high victimization at T1, transitivity did not significantly predict reduced victimization. Victimization and relational aggression negatively predicted changes in social and academic outcomes over the kindergarten year (Table 2).

Discussions
Our results confirmed the positive association between classroom centralization and chronic relational aggression and victimization for kindergarten children, similar to early adolescents (Garandeau et al., 2011). Classroom transitivity may have fostered more peer support (Wang et al., 2021), discouraging aggression and encouraging defenders. However, highly victimized children entering kindergarten may not benefit from classroom transitivity. Given the developmental consequences of relational aggression and victimization, the findings provide critical insights on how teachers can navigate children’s play interactions to reduce aggression and victimization in early childhood classrooms.

Authors

• Nan XIAO, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Tzu-Jung Lin, Ohio State University

• Hui Jiang, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy

• Monica Lu

• Jing Sun, Ohio State University

• Kelly M Purtell, Ohio State University

• Laura M. Justice, Ohio State University