Abstract
Classroom size - i.e., the number of students in the class - is a feature of the classroom environment often found to be negatively related to bullying or victimization. This study examines three possible explanations for this negative association: (a) it is due to measurement effects and therefore only found for peer-reports (Hypothesis 1), (b) bullying perpetrators are more popular and have more friends in smaller classrooms (Hypothesis 2), (c) targets of bullying are more popular and have more friends in larger classrooms (Hypothesis 3). Multilevel regression analyses were conducted on a sample from Austria (1,451 students; Mage = 12.31; 77 classes) and a sample from the Netherlands (1,460 students; Mage = 11.06; 59 classes). Results showed that classroom size was negatively associated with peer-reported bullying and victimization in both samples, and with self-reported bullying and victimization in the Dutch sample only, suggesting partial support for Hypothesis 1. Students high in bullying were found to be more popular in smaller than in larger classrooms in the Austrian sample. The negative link between victimization and popularity was found to be stronger in smaller classrooms than in larger classrooms in the Dutch sample. However, classroom size was not found to moderate links between bullying or victimization and friendship in either sample. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were supported, but only for popularity and in a single sample. Further research is needed to better understand the higher prevalence of bullying found in smaller classrooms in many studies.
Highlights
The prevalence of bullying and victimization in classrooms is not merely the result of individual characteristics of the bullying perpetrators and their targets but is influenced by features of the classroom environment (Saarento et al, 2015)
Correlations at the classroom level were negative for peer-reported measures of bullying and victimization in both samples, ranging from −0.35 to −0.53
The correlation between class size and self-reported bullying was non-significant in the Austrian sample and negative in the Dutch sample, r = −0.38, p < 0.01
Summary
The prevalence of bullying and victimization in classrooms is not merely the result of individual characteristics of the bullying perpetrators and their targets but is influenced by features of the classroom environment (Saarento et al, 2015). These contextual characteristics include the antibullying attitudes and behaviors of peer bystanders (Salmivalli et al, 2011) and of teachers (Veenstra et al, 2014; Oldenburg et al, 2015), as well as aspects of the peer social network, such as the degree of status hierarchy in the classroom (Garandeau et al, 2014). The reason why bullying and victimization would be more prevalent in smaller classrooms remains unclear
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