The effect of school climate and school location upon bullying in middle school transition

Abstract

In the last few decades, bullying has been considered a widespread problem for schools around the world. However, there are few longitudinal studies analyzing the evolution of bullying victimization and perpetration behaviors during middle school transition. In the present study we have employed a longitudinal approach, with assessment throughout two consecutive school years to analyze if middle school transition to analyze the influence that school location and two dimensions of school climate (student-student relationships and teacher-student relationships) have upon bullying victimization and perpetration behaviors during middle school location The study also analyzed if there are gender differences in the these relationships. Results indicate that, during middle school transition, victimization behaviors remained constant, whereas bullying perpetration behavior decreased significantly. However, for boys victimization behaviors increased, whereas there were no diferences between genders in the evolution of bullying perpetration behaviors. Also, students that reported more positive perceptions of teacher-student relationships displayed a larger decrease in bullying victimization and perpetration behaviors. Additionally,students who transited to rural middleschoolsreported a more negative trajectory in bullying victimization and perpetration behaviors than students that went to urban middle schools. Thus, it is possible to conclude that middle schools’ characteristics influence the evolution of bullying victimization and perpetration behaviors during middle school transition, which highlights the need for schools to invest in the promotion of a positive school climate.

Keywords

• bullying
• transição escolar
• clima escolar
• localização da escola