The role of children's on-task behavior in the prevention of aggressive behavior was assessed among 570 Dutch speaking children followed from second- to third-grade elementary school in Flanders, Belgium. A first objective was to investigate whether individual level variation of on-task behavior moderated the impact of a universal preventive…

Social rejection is associated with a wide variety of negative outcomes. Early identification of social rejection and intervention to minimize its negative impact is thus important. However, sociometric methods, which are considered high in validity for identifying socially rejected children, are frequently not used because of (a) procedural…

Relational aggression was studied within classroom environments by examining individual and classroom correlates among 2731 children (3rd-5th graders) during two successive measurement years. Multilevel analyses yielded small gender differences for relational aggression, indicating that such aggressive behavior was more associated with girls as…

Recent studies have found distinct subtypes of aggressive youth, marked by either high social status or social marginalization, and that various measures of status differentially associate with aggression. The majority of these studies, however, focused on boys, adolescents, and/or relational aggression in girls. The current research examined how…

This study assessed the importance of teacher preference of individual students, relative to peer rejection and student aggression, as an independent predictor of children's emotional adjustment and grades. First, a longitudinal, cross-lagged path analysis was conducted to determine the patterns of influence among teacher preference, peer…

Used sociometric rating procedure to classify third and fifth grade boys (N=64) as peer-rejected. Standardized teacher ratings classified students as aggressive. Significant portion of rejected students were rated as highly aggressive. Aggressive rejected groups were rated as exhibiting lower achievement motivation and higher levels of hostile…

Data gathered from a short term longitudinal study within fifth grade classrooms (n=378) were used to evaluate two process-oriented models linking peer rejection and negative peer treatment to children's self-concept, school engagement and adjustment. Both structural models linked peer rejection, victimization, and exclusion to children's…

The current study involved a comprehensive comparative examination of overt and relational aggression and victimization across multiple perspectives in the school setting (peers, teachers, observers in the lunchroom, self-report). Patterns of results involving sociometic status, ethnicity and gender were explored among 4th graders, with particular…

The effectiveness of teachers in identifying children who experience peer relationship difficulties was examined by comparing populations selected by teacher ratings and sociometric nomination procedures. Results revealed teachers were successful in identifying those who experienced the most severe peer rejection and were most likely to select…