ERIC Number: EJ928313
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jul
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0047-2891
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Staying Cool across the First Year of Middle School
Bellmore, Amy; Villarreal, Vanessa M.; Ho, Alice Y.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, v40 n7 p776-785 Jul 2011
As students transition into middle school they must successfully negotiate a new, larger peer context to attain or maintain high social standing. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which the maintenance, attainment, and loss of a cool status over the course of the sixth grade is associated with student and classroom levels of physical, verbal, and relational aggression. To address this goal, we studied a sample of 1985 (55% girls) ethnically diverse adolescents from 99 sixth grade classrooms in the United States. Attaining a cool status at any point across the school year was associated with stronger aggressive reputations. Additionally, classroom norms for aggressive behavior moderated the association between changes in aggression over the school year and the stability of coolness such that students who maintained their coolness across the school year showed greater increases in their verbally aggressive reputations from fall to spring when they were in classrooms with higher levels of aggression. The findings illustrate the importance of fitting in with social norms for maintaining a high social status among a new set of peers in middle school. (Contains 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Social Status, Aggression, Classrooms, Grade 6, Middle School Students, Peer Relationship, Maintenance, Early Adolescents, Social Attitudes, School Culture
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 6; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A