Transition to Middle School: Changes in Aggression, Popularity, and Peer Social Dynamics

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

During the transition to middle school, youth make significant adjustments to changes in school context and peer culture. It is reported that aggression and deviance become more accepted in middle school peer groups, while good classroom behaviors become less valued. Such changes in peer attraction and acceptance are likely to influence middle school students' social orientation and educational aspirations. This transition is also related to increased levels of social aggression and victimization (e.g., gossip, alienation, backbiting). The primary purpose of this project is to examine youth's social experience in peer groups during the transition to middle school. Specifically, we are interested in how changes in peer social dynamics may affect youth's use of various forms of aggression and their experience of victimization (physical, verbal, and social) in school. Approximately 450 children will be followed from the spring of 5th grade to the spring of 7th grade. Data collection regarding children's friendships and peer social networks, their experiences with aggression and victimization, their opinions about themselves, and their perceptions of peer culture at school will occur in each semester. Analyses will determine changes in youth's aggression and victimization, and how peer social relations and peer culture may contribute to such changes. This research will generate fresh information on the dynamic interplay between various forms of aggression and peer social processes. Traditional research and intervention efforts have been focused on physical or verbal aggression at school. Research shows that middle school students frequently experience social aggression, and that victimization is detrimental to children's learning and social/emotional development. The findings from this study will be extremely informative to the development of comprehensive and effective prevention programs targeting multiple forms of aggression and victimization at school. Such programs have the potential to reduce school violence and enhance students' behavioral and academic performance.