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Relational Aggression at School: Associations with School Safety and Social Climate

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Abstract

The present study examines how exposure to relational aggression at school is associated with adolescents’ perceptions of, and participation in, a hostile school environment. Participants were 1,335 African American and European American adolescents in grades 7 through 12 (52% female, 49% African American). Results indicate that exposure to relational aggression is associated with several components of adolescents’ perceptions of the school climate. Adolescents exposed to high levels of relational aggression perceived their school to be less safe, and were less pleased with the general social atmosphere at school. Moreover, for males, but not females, exposure to relational aggression was associated with carrying a weapon to school. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in terms of working toward safer school environments for adolescents.

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Notes

  1. There has been much debate as to whether to refer to socially manipulate, interpersonally harmful behavior as relational aggression (Crick 1995; Crick and Grotpeter 1995), indirect aggression (Björkqvist 1994; Lagerspetz et al. 1988) or social aggression (Cairns et al. 1989; Galen and Underwood 1997). Although the definitions of each of these behaviors do vary (e.g., indirect aggression pertains to aggression where the perpetrator remains anonymous, however in the cases of relational and social aggression the perpetrator can be either known or unknown), in practice the measurement of these constructs typically focuses on very similar socially manipulate behaviors. The term relational aggression is used in the present manuscript, because as the construct was measured the aggressor’s identity was not necessarily anonymous (as is the case for indirect aggression) and because there was no measure of subtle facial cues or gestures (which are a key part in the definition of social aggression). These issues are discussed in greater detail in Archer (2001), Björkqvist (2001) and Underwood et al. (2001a, b).

  2. In the present manuscript physical and direct verbal aggressive behaviors are referred to as overt aggression. This term was selected so that these behaviors could be directly contrasted with the relationship-focused harm inflicted by relational aggression. It is recognized that other terms may have also been appropriate, such as physical/verbal aggression.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the students, teachers, and other school personnel for making this study possible. This project was supported by research grants R03 AA01401-01A1 (PI: Amy Young) from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and R03 DA018272-01 (PI: Carol Boyd) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Health. We would also like to thank Daniel Chesir-Teran for his consultation on portions of the statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Child Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA

    Sara E. Goldstein

  2. Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, 204 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1290, USA

    Amy Young & Carol Boyd

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  1. Sara E. Goldstein
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  2. Amy Young
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Correspondence to Sara E. Goldstein.

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Goldstein, S.E., Young, A. & Boyd, C. Relational Aggression at School: Associations with School Safety and Social Climate. J Youth Adolescence 37, 641–654 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-007-9192-4

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