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Problematic Social Situations for Peer-Rejected Students in the First Year of Elementary School.

ABSTRACT: This study examined the social situations that are problematic for peer-rejected students in the first year of elementary school. For this purpose, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the Taxonomy of Problematic Social Situations for Children (TOPS, Dodge et al., 1985) in 169 rejected pupils, identified from a sample of 1457 first-grade students (ages 5-7) enrolled in 62 classrooms of elementary school. For each rejected student, another student of average sociometric status of the same gender was selected at random from the same classroom (n_average = 169). The model for the rejected students showed a good fit, and was also invariant in the group of average students. Four types of situations were identified in which rejected students have significantly more difficulties than average students. They are, in descending order: (a) respect for authority and rules, (b) being disadvantaged, (c) prosocial and empathic behavior, and (d) response to own success. Rejected boys have more problems in situations of prosociability and empathy than girls. The implications concerning the design of specific programs to prevent and reduce early childhood rejection in the classroom are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Martin-Anton LJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5156692 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Problematic Social Situations for Peer-Rejected Students in the First Year of Elementary School.

Martín-Antón Luis J LJ Monjas María Inés MI García Bacete Francisco J FJ Jiménez-Lagares Irene I

Frontiers in psychology 20161215

This study examined the social situations that are problematic for peer-rejected students in the first year of elementary school. For this purpose, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the Taxonomy of Problematic Social Situations for Children (TOPS, Dodge et al., 1985) in 169 rejected pupils, identified from a sample of 1457 first-grade students (ages 5-7) enrolled in 62 classrooms of elementary school. For each rejected student, another student of average sociometric ...[more]

PMID: 28018265

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Project description:People organize their social relationships under a restriction on the number that a single individual can maintain simultaneously (the so-called Dunbar's number, ~150). Additionally, personal networks show a characteristic layered structure where each layer corresponds to relationships of different emotional closeness. This structure, referred to as Dunbar's circles, has mostly been considered from a static viewpoint, and their structure and evolution is largely unexplored. Here we study the issue of the evolution of the structure of positive and negative relationships in early adolescence by using data from students in their first year at middle school obtained from surveys conducted in class in two different waves separated by several months. Our results show that, initially, students have a lower number of total relationships but the majority are more intense and over time they report a higher number of total relationships, but the more intense relationships appear in a lower proportion. We have also found differences in the structure of communities at both temporal moments. While in the first instance the communities that appeared are mixed, made up of both boys and girls, in the second they changed so that they were separated primarily by gender. In addition, the size of each community was stabilized around 15 people, which coincides with the size of the second Dunbar's circle, known as the sympathy group in social psychology. As a consequence, in groups with around 20 students of the same gender, they tend to split in two separate communities of about 10 each, below the second Dunbar's circle threshold. On the other hand, groups with more stable community structure appear to go through the inverse process of friendship evolution, becoming more focused on their best relationships. All these results suggest how the layered structure of the personal network, as well as the community structure of the social network, emerge directly from the union of both positive and negative relationships. Thus, we provide a new perspective about its temporal evolution that may have relevant applications to improve school life and student performance.

Project description:BackgroundManaging school nonattendance is a priority worldwide. Frequent school nonattendance in early school years has immediate and long-term negative effects. Although strategies to address nonattendance are being developed and implemented, the number of students with school nonattendance issues is increasing. In this study, we explored students' feelings and perceptions about attending school and the potential determinants of a positive attitude towards attending school.MethodsWe hypothesized that a positive perception towards attending school was influenced by relationships, perceptions of current circumstances, subjective health, and having someone to share experiences and thoughts with. For examining the hypothesized model, an original questionnaire with 14 items was developed, including perceptions towards school attendance (an item), relationships with friends and school teachers (5 items), current circumstances (4 items), subjective health (3 items), and the individuals available to share experiences and thoughts with (1 item). In total, 6860 children submitted the questionnaire (85.3% response rate) and 6841 responses were included to examine the model. Children were 10 or 11 years old, and selected from 111 state-run schools in 8 randomly selected school districts.ResultsThe final model demonstrated good fit and showed that the latent variable of relationships with friends and school teachers directly impacted on how children felt about attending school. The latent variable of subjective health also directly impacted on how children felt about attending school but not strongly. Other latent variables were not significant.ConclusionsThe importance of positive relationships with friends and teachers in overcoming school nonattendance has been emphasized in previous studies. This study has provided evidence that these relationships impacted children's positive perception about attending school in a large sample of students aged 10-11 years. The latent variable of subjective health may require more items to capture mental health.

Dataset Information

Problematic Social Situations for Peer-Rejected Students in the First Year of Elementary School.

Publications

Problematic Social Situations for Peer-Rejected Students in the First Year of Elementary School.

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