Double jeopardy: Child and school characteristics that predict aggressive-disruptive behavior in first grade

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

High rates of aggressive-disruptive behavior exhibited by children during their initial years of elementary school increase their risk for significant behavioral adjustment problems with teachers and peers. The purpose of the present study was to examine the unique and combined contributions of child vulnerabilities and school context to the development of aggressive-disruptive student behavior during first grade. Parent ratings and child interviews assessed three child characteristics associated with risk for the development of aggressive behavior problems in elementary school (aggressive-disruptive behaviors at home, attention problems, and social cognitions) in a sample of 755 first-grade children in four demographically diverse American communities. Two school characteristics associated with student aggressive-disruptive behavior problems (low-quality classroom context, school poverty levels) were also assessed. Linear and multilevel analyses showed that both child and school characteristics made independent and cumulative contributions to the development of student aggressive-disruptive behavior at school. Although rates of student aggressive-disruptive behavior varied by gender and race, the predictive model generalized across all groups of children in the study. Copyright 2008 by the National Association of School Psychologists.

Publication Title

School Psychology Review

Volume

37

Issue

4

First Page

516

Last Page

532

Comments

This article was published in School Psychology Review, Volume 37, Issue 4, Pages 516-532.

The published version is available at http://www.naspweb.org/publications/index.html .

Copyright © 2008 NASP.

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