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A Longitudinal Multilevel Study of Individual Characteristics and Classroom Norms in Explaining Bullying Behaviors

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Abstract

This three-wave longitudinal study was set out to examine the interplay between individual characteristics (social standing in the classroom) and descriptive and injunctive classroom norms (behavior and attitudes, respectively) in explaining subsequent bullying behavior, defined as initiating, assisting, or reinforcing bullying. The target sample contained fourth- to sixth-grade students (n = 2,051) who attended the control schools in the Finnish evaluation of the KiVa antibullying program. Random slope multilevel analyses revealed that, over time, higher popularity or rejection, or lower acceptance were associated with increases in bullying behaviors, especially in classrooms with a high descriptive bullying norm. In contrast, the injunctive norm did not moderate the associations between social standing and engagement in bullying, except for children high on popularity. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Academy of Finland project Bullying Networks across School Classes (project 255584 awarded to Christina Salmivalli) as part of the European Collaborative Research Project ‘Social Influence in Dynamic Networks’.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pedagogical Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Miranda Sentse

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Miranda Sentse & Christina Salmivalli

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

    René Veenstra

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Noona Kiuru

  5. Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Christina Salmivalli

Authors
  1. Miranda Sentse
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  2. René Veenstra
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  3. Noona Kiuru
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  4. Christina Salmivalli
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Correspondence to Miranda Sentse.

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Sentse, M., Veenstra, R., Kiuru, N. et al. A Longitudinal Multilevel Study of Individual Characteristics and Classroom Norms in Explaining Bullying Behaviors. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43, 943–955 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9949-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9949-7

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