A Preliminary Study of Bully and Victim Behavior in Old-for-Grade Students: Another Potential Hidden Cost of Grade Retention or Delayed School Entry

摘要

Mounting evidence suggests that being an old-for-grade student, as a result of grade retention or delayed school entry, is related to negative outcomes across various domains of functioning. No known study has examined the relations between old-for-grade status and specific childhood/adolescent bully and victim behaviors. The first purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether old-for-grade students engage in significantly more relational bullying, verbal bullying, and physical bullying compared with age-appropriate-for-grade peers. The second purpose was to establish whether old-for-grade students are more likely to play passive or aggressive/provocative victim roles compared with age-appropriate-for-grade students. A total of 16 public and private school teachers completed a bullying behavior questionnaire regarding each of their students. The authors analyzed data from 276 students; of these, 67 were old-for-grade students and 209 were age-appropriate-for-grade students. Findings suggest that old-for-grade status is related to significantly more bullying behavior and victim behavior compared with age-appropriate-for-grade peers. In addition, the authors discuss the critical implications of these research findings.View full textDownload full textKEYWORDSbullying, old-for-grade, bully, victim, childrenRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2010.518843