Kindergarten children involved in bullying. Social behavior, peer relationships, and social status.

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Autor/in	Perren, Sonja
Titel	Kindergarten children involved in bullying. Social behavior, peer relationships, and social status.
Quelle	(2000), VII, 226 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit Bern, Universität Bern, Diss., 2000.
Beigaben	Anhang
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie
URN	urn:nbn:ch:bel-10216
Schlagwörter	Aggression; Emotion; Verhalten; Kind; Vorschulalter; Kindergarten; Interaktion; Mobbing; Soziale Kompetenz; Dissertation; Entwicklung; Kindergartenkind
Abstract	This dissertation was part of a NFP/PNF40 project, whose goals were to investigate the phenomenon of bullying and its prevention. This study focused on the phenomenological part of the project and aimed at investigating the relations between bullying, social behavior, peer relationships, and social status. 344 children (154 girls and 190 boys), aged five through seven, from 18 kindergartens in Berne participated. A multi-method approach was used. Children and teachers were interviewed. Further, teachers completed a questionnaire on each child. Additionally, naturalistic observations were carried out in three of the participating kindergartens involving 11 focal children. Children were categorized as bullies (11%), victims (6%), bully-victims (10%), non-involved (47%), and mixed (17%) by means of teacher ratings and peer nominations. Further, peer and teacher nominations were used to establish negative interaction dyads. Children´s social behavior patterns (aggressive behaviors, social skills, assertiveness, withdrawal) were assessed by means of teacher ratings and complemented by observational results. Peer relationships encompassed (dyadic) friendships and social clusters. Friendships and best friendships were assessed by means of reciprocal peer nominations. Social cluster mapping technique was used to establish social clusters. Moreover, peer nominations, teacher ratings, and social cluster mapping technique were used to assess children´s social status. Analyses revealed that bullying was an everyday occurrence in kindergarten and affected not only children directly involved in bullying but also the whole peer group. Boys bullied more frequently than girls, but were also more often victimized. Boys bullied more often by physical, verbal, and object-related means. Exclusion as a form of bullying was equally likely for boys and girls. Boys were mainly victimized by other boys, whereas girls were bullied by both boys and girls. Older children were more often categorized as being bullies, whereas younger children (at least the boys) were more often victimized. Children were mainly bullied by older or same-age peers and rarely by younger children. Bullies, bully-victims, and victims displayed clearly distinct social behavior patterns. Bullies were overtly and verbally/indirectly aggressive. They were less cooperative and prosocial than non-involved children, but they were very sociable. Moreover, bullies were often leaders and had no problems to set limits. Furthermore, bullies were neither introverted nor actively isolated by their peers. Victims displayed exactly the opposite behavior patterns. They were not all aggressive. Further, they scored high on cooperativeness and prosocial behaviors, but were less sociable than non-involved children and bullies. Victims lacked leadership skills and had problems to set limits. Moreover, they frequently displayed withdrawing behavior. Bully-victims displayed mixed behavior patterns. Most features paralleled bullies´ social behavior patterns. They were highly aggressive, even more overtly aggressive than bullies. Further, they were not cooperative and prosocial, but very sociable. Bully-victims did not score lower on leadership or setting limits than non-involved children. However, further analyses revealed that male bully-victims also showed - in comparison to bullies - submissive behavior patterns. Although bully-victims were not introverted, they were often isolated by their peers. Bully-victims and victims had poor peer relations. They frequently had no friends. Teachers rated them as having fewer playmates and as having less often a close friend. Additionally, some victims and bully-victims were also victimized by their friends. In contrast to victimized children, bullies were well embedded in their peer group. They had many friends and belonged to larger social clusters than non-involved children. Aggressive children tended to affiliate. Bullies (particularly male bullies) were often friends with other bullies. Moreover, bully-victims and bullies often belonged to the same social cluster. Victims and bully-victims had a low social status, whereas bullies were quite popular. Victims and bully-victims probably have distinct pathways to victimization. Submissiveness and withdrawal were associated with being a victim, whereas overt aggression and submissiveness (at least for boys) were related to being a bully-victim. However, for bully-victims as well as for victims having no friends and low social status were potential social risk variables which were also related to victimization. Having a best friend and social status moderated the relation between introversion and being a victim. Introversion was found to be a potential risk factor for victimization, only for the children who had no best friend. For bully-victims, low social status mediated the relation between overt aggression and victimization. Assumedly, overt aggression leads to low social status which in turn may contribute to victimization. In conclusion, bullying or victimization cannot be considered as individual characteristics of certain children, but are embedded in the peer group context. (Abstract adapted).
Erfasst von	Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2010/1