Relationship Among Cooperative Learning Experiences, Social Interdependence, Children’s Aggression, Victimization, and Prosocial Behaviors

Abstract

This study examined the relationships among cooperative experiences, social interdependence predispositions, harm-intended aggression, victimization, and prosocial behaviors with 217 elementary school children from the 3rd to 5th grades. Path analysis using LISREL indicate that cooperative experiences predicted cooperative predispositions, the absence of individualistic predispositions, and prosocial behaviors. Cooperative predisposition predicted prosocial behaviors and the absence of harm-intended aggression. Competitive predisposition predicted harm-intended aggression. The implications of increasing cooperativeness through cooperative experiences, especially for bullies and victims, were discussed.