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In 4-5 pages, (Time Roman, 12-font, double-spaced), address three (3) questions.
- What is the role of teachers in helping children and teen’s development?
- What is the influence of peer groups on children and teens?
- What is the influence of family on children and teens?
No abstract is necessary. APA in-text citation and reference list required.
Belonging to and exclusion from the
peer group in schools: influences on
adolescents’ moral choices
Luba Falk Feigenberg*a, Melissa Steel Kinga, Dennis J. Barra,b
and Robert L. Selmana
a
Harvard University, USA; bFacing History and Ourselves, Boston, USA
This paper reports on a mixed methods study of adolescents’ responses to case material about
social exclusion. First, a qualitative coding method is presented that describes the way adolescents
choose and justify strategies to negotiate such situations. The responses were then analysed
quantitatively using chi square tests and multinomial logistic regression. Findings indicate that
adolescents’ interpretation of their social context was a significant factor in their choice of
strategy.
Those adolescents who invoked normative rules and conventions as the most salient justifications
were more likely to recommend bystanding rather than joining in the exclusion. However,
adolescents who viewed the protagonist’s own choice as an opportunity for making long-lasting
positive changes in the social environment were more likely to recommend helping the victim.
Gender and school context also were associated with adolescents’ choice of strategy. Implications
for research in moral development as well as practical implications for school-based programming
are discussed.
Introduction: the problem of peer group social exclusion and bullying in the
schools
In her ninth grade class on ethics and history, Eve Shalen wrote an essay about her
involvement with an incident of social exclusion and ostracism that occurred in early
adolescence. About her experience with social relations in middle school, she says:
My eighth grade consisted of 28 students most of whom knew each other from the age
of five or six. Although we grew up together, we still had class outcasts. From second
grade on, a small élite group spent a large portion of their time harassing two or three of
the others. I was one of those two or three, though I don’t know why…The harassment
was subtle. It came in the form of muffled giggles when I talked and rolled eyes when I
turned around. If I was out in the playground and approached a group of people, they
*Corresponding author. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Larsen Hall 610, Appian Way,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Email: luba.feigenberg@childrens.harvard.edu
Journal of Moral Education
Vol. 37, No. 2, June 2008, pp. 165–184
ISSN 0305-7240 (print)/ISSN 1465-3877 (online)/08/020165-20
# 2008 Journal of Moral Education Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/03057240802009306
often fell silent. Sometimes someone would not see me coming and I would catch the
tail end of a joke at my expense.
There was another girl in our class who was perhaps even more rejected than I. One
day during lunch…one of the popular girls in the class came up to me to show me
something she said I wouldn’t want to miss. We walked to a corner of the playground
where a group of three or four sat. One of them read aloud from a small book, which I
was told was the girl’s diary. I sat down and, laughing till my sides hurt, heard my voice
finally blend with the others. Looking back, I wonder how I could have participated in
mocking this girl when I knew perfectly well what it felt like to be mocked myself. I
would like to say that if I were in that situation today I would react differently, but I
can’t honestly be sure. (Facing History and Ourselves, 1994, pp. 29–30).
Experiences of social exclusion such as this are quite common to early adolescents
who struggle to navigate social relationships every day. Much of the discourse on
social exclusion focuses on why adolescents who may ‘know better’ still join in when
they see their peers mocking or harassing another student (Bosworth et al., 1999;
Nansel et al., 2001). However, there is little research that examines what might help
adolescents ‘think beyond’ not joining in and, instead, influence them to get
involved to help the victim. In other words, what factors might influence adolescents
to choose to stand up for themselves or others?
In this paper, we explore the way early adolescents think about the choice to
bystand, join the perpetrators or defend the victim in a situation of social exclusion,
such as the one Eve Shalen describes in her school. First, we review the research
literature on how various factors—social cognitive, cultural and contextual—influence
adolescents’ choices about difficult social actions and decisions. We then describe the
construction and validation of a framework to classify both the range of strategies
adolescents recommend in response to the In Group Assessment, a qualitative
measure based on the Eve Shalen case material, as well as the justifications they give
for their choice (Barr, 2005). Next, we present findings about the influence of school
contextual factors on the variation in social choices. We conclude with a discussion of
the implications of our findings for research and practice in moral development and
educational programming to reduce social
exclusion.
Social exclusion: definitions of the problem
Often defined as a physical, verbal or psychological action intended to cause fear,
distress or harm to the victim, social exclusion during childhood and adolescence
occurs within the context of an asymmetric power relationship, where a more
powerful child, or group of children, oppresses the less powerful one(s) (Olweus,
1993). Social exclusion in adolescence often includes ostracism, teasing, harassment
and bullying (Swain, 1998). Research in the US suggests between 5 and 27% of
adolescents admit to having excluded a peer (Nansel et al., 2001; Dake et al., 2003).
It is now recognised that social exclusion is seldom the action of only one
individual. The group dynamics required for and created by such behaviour
contributes to the overall culture and climate of schools and social groups. Not
surprisingly, schools with higher rates of exclusion are perceived as less safe (Astor
et al., 2002; Dupper & Meyer-Adams, 2002). Faced with such statistics, schools
166 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
struggle to find effective responses to social exclusion and to prevent its negative
consequences in their hallways, cafeterias, gyms and classes.
Further, rigid rules and inflexible consequences in schools typically address the
behaviour of those identified as the ‘perpetrators’ but not that of the ‘bystanders’—
those students who either passively watch or actively incite the exclusion (Staub, 2002).
In fact, even though most adolescents believe social exclusion is wrong, they often do
not try to intervene and usually stand by passively (Tisak et al., 1997; O’Connell et al.,
1999). In order to address this problem, it is important to understand what may cause
adolescents to make choices about their own behaviour in these contexts.
Theoretical orientations and empirical evidence: a brief review
Psychological theories that focus on child and adolescent social cognitive
development primarily describe the quality of individuals’ thought processes that
relate to or influence their social behaviour. Social information processing models,
for example, portray the cognitive steps necessary for individuals to make decisions
about social action (Dodge, 1986; Dodge & Price, 1994; Crick & Dodge, 1996).
Adolescents engage in a series of thought processes and ultimately choose an action
from a range of perceived possibilities. Antisocial behaviour, or social exclusion, may
result from misperceptions of the actions and intentions of others, a deficiency that
may occur at any point in the social information process (Fontaine et al., 2002).
According to these models, adolescents’ choices are due to internal cognitive
structures and abilities where the selection of exclusionary behaviour may be an
indicator of inaccurate or distorted social perceptions (Camodeca et al., 2003).
Other cognitive developmental approaches examine adolescents’ thought processes
as related to social interactions or the understanding, negotiation and meaning of
social relationships over time (Selman, 2003). This approach focuses specifically on
the conditions under which children develop and use the ability to coordinate different
social perspectives (Collins, 2002), rather than conceptualising social competence as a
sequence of social cognitive information processing steps (Selman, 1980; Keller &
Edelstein, 1991). For example, adolescents who have more difficulty coordinating
their own and others’ points of view are at greater risk for peer conflict and may be
more likely to participate in social exclusion (Selman et al., 1992, 1997). Like social
informational processing models, however, many earlier social cognitive-develop-
mental theories (Kohlberg, 1971) located the impetus for adolescents’ choice of social
action primarily in the minds of individuals or at the individual level of analysis. By
focusing mainly on individuals’ social cognitions, these models often do not consider
how other factors may influence adolescents’ social choices, especially under
challenging, complex or ambiguous conditions (Steinberg, 2003).
Differences between adolescents’ social viewpoints and actions can also be attributed
to population level or cultural factors. Research on individuals’ membership of broad
social systems suggests that group affiliation, such as gender, race or socioeconomic
status, may shape the way they think about their choices about behaviour. For example,
gender has been shown to be an important influence on social exclusion. When faced
Moral choices 167
with such situations, early adolescent boys tend to prefer to join in with the
perpetrators, while girls tend to side with the victim (Nansel et al., 2001; Seals &
Young, 2003). In contrast, research that focuses specifically on social aggression—
defined as the manipulation of a relationship in order to damage ‘another’s self-esteem,
social status or both’ (Underwood, 2003, p. 23)—suggests girls are much more likely
than boys to be the perpetrators of socially aggressive acts (Crick et al., 1996; Galen &
Underwood, 1997). Further, girls are expected, by both boys and girls, to be the
perpetrators of socially aggressive acts (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Lastly, there appear
to be gender differences in preferred coping strategies and desire for adult intervention
in situations of social exclusion (Naylor et al., 2001; Gamliel et al., 2003).
While gender plays an important role in adolescents’ behaviour in social exclusion,
such behaviour does not appear to vary by race or ethnicity, at least in the US (Leff et
al., 1999; Seals & Young, 2003). Yet, when cultural characteristics are considered as
part of the larger context within which exclusion occurs, adolescents view race, as well
as gender, as important factors in thinking about when such behaviour may be
appropriate. For example, adolescents consider others’ racial background as a valid
reason for excluding individuals from particular social relationships or situations, such
as school-based clubs or peer groups (Killen & Stangor, 2001; Killen et al., 2002).
The roles individuals assume within the peer group context also affect the way
they think about social choices. Individuals tend to take on particular roles, across
both situations and time, that contribute to the structural components of intergroup
dynamics. In particular, adolescents tend to view their moral choices differently
depending on whether they are witness to an event or a perpetrator (Salmivalli et al.,
1996; Sutton & Smith, 1999). In other words, adolescents’ role in the social context
influences their choices for behaviour. In this sense, context extends beyond the
impact of external social structures and systems on social and relational behaviour.
Rather, context can be thought of as the system of ‘social activities and cultural
meanings’ in which an individual participates (Serpell, 2002). The way students
understand their choices, then, is grounded in their context and social experiences
(Burton et al., 1996).
The school context, for one, plays an especially important role in the way students
perceive risk behaviour (Kuperminc et al., 1997). For example, the level of safety
adolescents perceive in their schools and communities is related to their thinking
about the meaning of threatening behaviour (Espelage et al., 2000). When students
believe their social environment is unsafe they are more likely to interpret others’
behaviour as hostile or aggressive. The climate fostered in the school plays an
important role in students’ choices around peer group actions (Salmivalli & Voeten,
2004), such as whether they join the perpetrator(s) or defend the victim.
Research questions
This study is guided by the following research questions:
1. What strategies do students recommend for negotiating a situation of social
exclusion and what justifications do they offer for their chosen strategy?
168 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
2. Do students’ recommended strategies and justifications for negotiating a
situation of social exclusion differ by their role in the social context, i.e.
whether they are asked to assume the role of witness or perpetrator?
3. Do students’ recommended strategies for negotiating a situation of social
exclusion vary as a function of their perceptions of the social context, i.e.
school or classroom climate?
To address these questions, we designed a mixed-methods study. First, we explored
students’ open-ended responses to case material about a situation of social exclusion
for the strategies they recommend and the justifications they offer for their choices.
Next, we translated the qualitative codes into quantitative categories in order to
examine the influences on students’ choice of strategy. We interpret the implications
of our findings for research in social development as well as school-based social
development programming.
Methods
The research context and procedure
The research described in this paper is part of an ongoing collaborative project with
Facing History and Ourselves (hereafter Facing History),1 an international
organisation that provides resources for teachers and a program for students that
focuses on human behaviour and ethics as a bridge between history and the self
(Tollefson et al., 2004).
Schools with teachers who were known to use the Facing History program and
who were willing to be included in a quasi-experimental study were recruited to
participate in this study. A second school was then recruited within the same town
that matched for similar characteristics. All students in the selected classrooms were
eligible to participate in this research. Only students who returned written parental
consent forms were included in the study; participation rates were above 75% across
the classrooms. Measures were administered during class time by the teachers in the
study and were then turned over to members of the research team. No identifying
information was collected and students’ confidentiality was guaranteed. The
students completed the measures before they had any contact with Facing History
materials and so the data are not construed as evaluation outcome data.
Setting and participants
The participants in this study were students in five public middle schools in
Massachusetts. The schools were all located in districts with a predominantly white,
middle-class student population. As Table 1 shows, there is some variation in
socioeconomic and educational characteristics across the schools, as suggested by
the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch (information
about the students in this study and the schools they attended was provided by the
Facing History organisation).
Moral choices 169
The sample for this study includes 168 students in five Grade 8 classrooms, one
from each school in the study. One hundred and four girls and 64 boys participated.
Students ranged in age from 12–13 years old. No other individual-level demographic
information is available.
Measures
After reading the case material about Eve Shalen, participants completed the In
Group Assessment. This is a survey measure, with two primary questions based on
the case study of Eve Shalen and seven follow-up open-ended items. The measure
was designed to challenge students to assume different vantage points, such as
bystander or victim, about a situation of social exclusion, as well as to capture their
thinking about the issues of interpersonal relationships and social exclusion more
generally (Barr, 2005). The content and language of the assessment questions rely
on the discourse used in Facing History, while the structure of the questions is
driven by a psychological theory about how children develop the capacity to
coordinate various social perspectives, which is central to their understanding and
negotiation of social relationships as well as their developing social awareness
(Selman et al., 1997; Selman, 2003).
For the purposes of this study, we analysed students’ responses to two questions
on the In Group Assessment. The first question asked students to respond as a
witness or bystander to the social exclusion: 1(a) List at least two different ways that
Eve could have acted when she witnessed her classmates picking on other students.
(b) Which would be the best way? (c)
Why would that be the best way?
In the second question, students were asked to suggest choices when invited to
join the perpetrators: 2(a) List at least two things Eve could have done when she was
invited to join in the teasing of the other girl. (b) Which would be the best way? (c)
Why would that be the best way?
In each of the two questions, students were asked to write about the choices they
perceived for negotiating the situation and their justifications for each choice. This
allowed us to compare strategies and justifications across each of the two vantage
points. Data for this study include all students who complied with the instructions
for both questions.
Table 1. Sample demographics (n5168)
School n Race (% white of the total
population)1
% Eligible for free/reduced
price lunch1
A 34 81.0 9.6
B 63 92.0 4.8
C 19 88.0 7.1
D 14 80.0 30.5
E 38 80.0 27.7
Notes: 1Massachusetts Department of Education (2004)
170 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
Analysis plan
Qualitative analysis: coding development
To address the first research question, we initially examined the responses to code
for the strategies students suggested for negotiating the choice to witness or join in
the social exclusion. Using a semi-grounded approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), we
allowed the data, rather than theory, to guide these analyses. First, we open-coded
the responses by grouping similar strategies together. We then clustered the
suggested strategies by salient themes, which resulted in three strategy categories.
The codebook for these strategy categories, including exemplars of each, is shown in
Table 2.
To examine the second portion of the responses, where students justify why their
chosen strategy would be the best one for the situation, we focused on the factors in
the social environment students perceive to be most salient when choosing a
strategy. We used an inductive approach (Boyatzis, 1998) to allow both the data and
theory to guide the coding. This analysis involved a greater amount of interpretation
on our part than the analysis for strategy codes, as we attempted to capture key
elements about how the strategy was explained and the reason given for its selection.
Table 3 provides the codebook for the four justification categories as well as
examples of each.
A three-person team coded the data. Each phase of coding began with a discussion
of the codebooks for strategy and justification (as shown in Tables 2 and 3), the
establishment of anchor responses and independent scoring until an acceptable level
of inter-rater agreement was reached. Both the strategy and justification categories
had over 92% direct agreement and Kappas greater than .9 (Bakeman & Quera
Table 2. Codebook for strategy categories
Code description Anchor response
Upstand N Requires intervention in the existing
situation of
ostracism
‘She could of told them to stop, and
that they were being mean.’
N Articulates an action that assists the
victim, such as standing up to the group
or comforting the victim
N Aligns against the mocking of the girl
‘She should make friends with that
girl.’
‘She should of just told a teacher what
was going on.’
Perpetrate N Aligns with the group mocking the girl ‘She could play along and make fun
of the kids too.’
‘She should go with the girls.’
‘Ignore them and just go on with her
business.’
‘Make an excuse and walk away.’
N Action implies that the invitation to join
the mocking has been accepted
N Contributes to the existing situation of
ostracism
Bystand N Aligns with neither the victim nor the
group doing the mocking
N Avoids involvement with the existing
situation of ostracism
N Uninvolvement, active as in walking away,
or passive, by minding one’s own business
Moral choices 171
[1995] suggest .6 to .8 to be adequate and above .8 to be excellent). Approximately
20% of the sample was used during training and reliability procedures. Once the
training was completed, the remaining surveys were divided among the raters and
scored independently. All of the surveys were used in subsequent analyses.
Quantitative analysis
In order to examine the relationships between strategy and justification categories,
we created categorical variables and assigned each code a numerical value (0–2 for
Table 3. Codebook for justification categories
Code description Anchor response
Conventional N References social norms, conventions or
rules (formal or informal) as the main
guiding principle
‘It is the right thing to do.’
‘It would be easier.’
‘Because I think it’s the best.’
N Highlights the efficiency or expediency
of the
recommended strategy
‘It would keep everyone out
of trouble.’
N Does not explicate reasoning beyond
simple explanations of cost-benefit
analyses that imply one action is simply
‘better’ than another
Safety N Indicates protection as a priority ‘So they don’t start picking
on her too.’
‘That way nothing bad
happens to the victim.’
N Perceives an immediate threat to one’s
emotional or physical well-being
N Indicates that the main goal is to stop
the current situation of ostracism ‘To make sure she doesn’t get
hurt.’N Does not reference long term
consequences or implications of
recommended strategy
Relational N Highlights the formation or maintenance
of interpersonal relationship(s)
‘And I could be considered
the ‘‘Popular’’ girl.’
N Articulates desire for belonging or
connectedness with another person or
with a group of people
‘Because she’d feel like she fit
in.’
‘Because she knows what it
feels like.’N Identifies a connection between people’s
experiences or emotions
Prosocial
Transformational
N Explains connections between the
recommended action and possible future
consequences or implications
‘They might realize they’re
doing the wrong thing and
not do it again.’
N Speculates about the possible
development of or changes in other
people’s thinking or beliefs
‘I believe that if enough
people are willing to do
something about a
problem, the problem
would not exist anymore.’
‘She would make a good
influence on other people.’
N Articulates opportunities for group
dynamics to shift as a result of the
recommended action
N Implies that the recommended action
could serve as a catalyst for these changes ‘That way they would under-
stand what it’s like too.’
172 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
strategy and 0–3 for justification). These values are not meant to assign hierarchical
differences between the categories, i.e. that one is inherently ‘better’ or more
sophisticated than another. As with all categorical variables, there is no measurable
difference between the codes and the numerical value is irrelevant; the only
comparisons that can be made are of equality or inequality.
Qualitative results
Coding for strategy
The first set of clusters refers to strategies that ‘Upstand’ or that align against the
mocking of the girl. These student responses recommend actions that imply that
helping the victim is the goal. One cluster of responses suggests direct intervention in
the situation by standing up to the group doing the teasing. These types of responses
recommend that the best thing to do would be to ‘tell the group to stop’ or ‘tell them
what they were doing would hurt the girl’. A second cluster of Upstand responses takes
a different tack and recommends actions that demonstrate alignment with the victim,
such as ‘she should make friends with the girl’ or ‘she should go over and talk to that
girl’. Lastly, there are response clusters that suggest strategies that seek the help of an
adult figure to stop the teasing. Most often, these responses typically recommend that
‘she should tell a teacher what was going on’ as a way to handle the situation.
The next category group of responses suggests strategies that ‘Perpetrate’ the
teasing in reaction to the invitation to join the situation. These responses indicate
actions that escalate the situation by contributing to the violence. One cluster of
strategies aligns with the group mocking the girl and joins in the teasing. These
responses explicitly state that the best thing to do would be ‘going with the group of
popular kids’ or to ‘join the in crowd’. Another cluster of responses included in this
category suggests initiating a new conflict. For example, some responses that
recommend that ‘attacking the girls’ or ‘being mean back’ would be the best way to
handle the situation. Because these types of actions perpetuate, as opposed to
decrease, the use of violence they are counted as Perpetrate.
Lastly, the ‘Bystand’ category includes responses that indicate avoiding involve-
ment in the situation. One cluster of responses in this category group suggests that
actively detaching from the situation is the best option, such as ‘walking away’ or
‘not going with the girls’. Students also recommend that she should ‘make an
excuse, like I have to go to the bathroom’ to avoid being involved in the teasing.
Another cluster of responses describes a more passive stance that avoids both an
explicit endorsement of the exclusion and direct perpetration of teasing. These
Bystand responses advocate ‘looking on’ or ‘just standing there’ while the teasing
occurs. The explicit goal of a Bystand response is the attempt to avoid aligning with
either the victim or the group doing the teasing.
Coding for justification
Responses in the ‘Conventional’ justification category stress the importance of
formal rules or informal social norms, pointing to morals or pragmatics. Moral rules
Moral choices 173
included responses such as ‘it’s the right thing to do’ or ‘that way she won’t get in
trouble’. Additional responses that are clustered as pragmatic in the Conventional
category include a type of cost-benefit analysis, such as ‘it would work better’ or ‘it
would be easier’ that highlights the expediency or efficiency of the chosen strategy.
There is also a cluster of responses in this group that refers to what ‘most kids’ would
do or provides little explanation beyond the surface level of ‘it’s better’.
A second category of justification, ‘Safety’, prioritises the physical or emotional
welfare of one of the potentially vulnerable people involved in the situation.
Articulating a need for immediate protection in the face of a perceived threat, some
Safety responses prioritise the needs of the self or Eve by referencing the notion that
the chosen strategy would ‘keep her from getting hurt’ or ‘make them leave her
alone’. Other responses point to the need for protecting the other girl (the victim) in
the situation, such as ‘that way they’ll stop picking on the girl’. Though Safety
justifications point to the urgent need for the current situation to stop, no long-term
consequences are mentioned as a reason for the chosen action. Ultimately, the most
important factor in Safety responses is that the action is seen as a necessary response
to provide prompt shelter from harm.
Responses in the ‘Relational’ justification category emphasise a sense of belonging
or connection between people. These Relational justifications place importance on
interpersonal or intergroup relationships, such as ‘that way she’ll have a friend’ or
‘she’ll feel like she fits in’. Relational justifications also included a cluster of
responses that identify the connection between different people’s experiences and/or
emotions. Such responses frequently point to the fact that Eve ‘should know how it
feels’ because she shares the experience as a victim of ostracism. Justifications of this
type articulate an awareness of the benefits (or dangers) of affiliations between
individuals.
The fourth justification category, ‘Prosocial Transformational’, views the chosen
action as a catalyst for change. Responses in this group demonstrate the awareness
that change is possible and explain the possible future effects of the present strategy,
indicating that the chosen strategy may ‘stop this from happening again’. These
justifications articulate opportunities for something to be different as a result of the
current situation, whether the shift is manifested in ‘the bullies having a change of
heart and not doing that anymore’ or larger social structures, such as ‘the situation
may not exist anymore’.
Quantitative results
Chi square tests
To explore the second research question, Chi square tests were conducted to
examine whether students recommended different strategies when asked to respond
to the situation presented in the In Group Assessment from the vantage point of a
bystander as compared with a potential perpetrator. Table 4 shows the distribution
of the strategies and justifications across the two questions.
174 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
Overall, students tended to recommend different strategies from the two vantage
points (x2586.8, p,.001). For example, when asked to take the position as a
bystander to social exclusion, the majority of responses recommended an Upstand
strategy, such as ‘tell them to stop’ or ‘stand up to those girls’. In contrast, when
responding to the question about being invited to join the exclusion, the majority of
responses suggested a Bystand strategy, such as ‘walk away’ or ‘make an excuse’.
There was also a significant difference in the justifications between the two
vantage points (x258.52, p,.05). When asked to justify the strategies they chose in
the role of someone invited to join in the ostracism, adolescents tended to use more
relational justifications than when in the role of witness. This shift may occur
because in considering what to do when asked to actively join in the teasing,
individuals become more concerned with the current relationships involved and less
concerned with changing social dynamics. That the justifications also shifted with
changes in vantage point suggests that participants (who were promised anonymity)
took this interview seriously and did not answer in ways that were designed simply to
present themselves or their choices as socially or ethically desirable.
Multinomial logistic regression
Like Chi square analyses, multinomial logistic regression is used to analyse
categorical data. The Chi square analyses demonstrated which strategies occurred
more often in the sample. Multinomial logistic regression is predictive in that it
calculates the likelihood that students will pick one strategy versus another.
Therefore, it allows a comparison between students’ choices of action, showing
which actions are more likely to occur. Also, it is similar to ordinary least squares
regression in that it allows us to examine the effect of other variables that may
contribute to adolescent decision-making, such as their justifications of their actions,
their gender and their social context. The model was built to examine the effect of
individual variables as well as overall model fit.
Table 4. Descriptive statistics for Strategy and Justification categories (n5168)
Q1: Witness to
ostracism
Q2: Invited to join the
ostracism
Chi square test
Strategy (%)
Upstand 78.2 30.2 x2586.8***
Perpetrate 5.2 13.6
Bystand 16.7 56.2
Justification (%)
Conventional 23.3 21.0 x258.52*
Safety 30.1 28.2
Relational 26.7 40.3
Prosocial Transformational 19.9 10.5
Notes: *p,.05, **p,.01, ***p,.001
Moral choices 175
Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict adolescents’ choice of strategy,
specifically from the vantage point of being invited to join in the ostracism. This
question was chosen as the outcome because of the significant shift in adolescents’
choice of strategy between the vantage points as reported above. That the majority of
students chose an Upstand strategy from the vantage point of a witness implied that
their responses may be influenced by what they consider to be the most ‘socially
acceptable’ action, as opposed to what they may actually believe is best for their own
situations.
Multinomial logistic regression analyses always require a comparison group. In
this analysis, Bystand strategies were the ‘excluded’ category. In Table 5, therefore,
each strategy column (Perpetrate and Upstand) is compared not to each other but,
rather, to the excluded category, Bystand. Positive coefficients are significant
predictors of a greater likelihood of choosing a Perpetrate or Upstand strategy.
Negative coefficients are related to a greater likelihood of recommending a Bystand
strategy.
Table 5 shows the coefficient estimates in the final model, which includes variables
to capture the influence of predictor variables: gender, school context, and the
justification. Only conventional and prosocial transformational justifications were
included in the final model as neither safety nor relational justifications were
significant predictors in the model building process. There were no significant
interactions among predictor variables. The model in the left column represents the
likelihood of a choice to respond with a bystanding strategy versus a perpetrate
strategy. In the right column, the model predicts the likelihood of the choice of
bystanding over upstanding.
First, we examined which factors might influence an adolescent’s choice to
perpetrate (e.g. join the ostracism) versus to bystand (e.g. remain uninvolved in the
incident). In the left column, gender was significantly associated with a choice to
Table 5. Multinomial logistic regression model to predict the likelihood of a choice to bystand as
opposed to perpetrate or upstand
Perpetrate Upstand
b Exp(b) b Exp(b)
Gender 2.05*** 7.75 .41 1.51
Justification
Conventional 21.99* 7.34 .18 1.19
Prosocial Transformational 2.54 .58 1.81*** .17
School
School A 21.24 0.29 1.84* .16
School B 2.45 .64 2.22*** .11
School C 1.00 2.72 21.42 .24
School D .52 1.68 21.18 .31
Notes: n5168; 22LL590.25; df514; omitted category is Bystand. There were no significant
interactions between predictor variables. *p,.05, **p,.01, ***p,.001.
176 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
remain uninvolved (b52.05, p,.001). Girls were more likely than boys to
recommend bystanding over perpetrating; the reverse is also true: there was a
greater likelihood that boys would choose to join the perpetrators than girls. This
gender difference is well supported in prior research as an important factor in
adolescents’ social choices (O’Connell et al., 1999; Cowie, 2000; Ma, 2002; Seals &
Young, 2003).
Our findings also suggest that the way individuals perceive their context is
essential to their choices. In our sample, students tended not to choose a Perpetrate
strategy when they prioritised Conventional rules or socio-moral norms. As the
model in the left column indicates, students who used a Conventional justification
were less likely to choose a Perpetrate strategy than a Bystand strategy (b521.99,
p,.05). In other words, when students focused on conventions, they also tended to
suggest a strategy that does not actively participate in the maltreatment of another,
but does not actively seek a remedy either.
A response of this type might highlight appropriate standards of behaviour, such
as ‘She could of (sic) made an excuse and left. You shouldn’t pick on people.’ In this
response, the choice to avoid the situation is justified by referring to social norms
that dictate what people ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ do. Similarly, another response
suggests that ‘going on with her business’ would be the best thing to do because
‘joining the popular group might get her in trouble’. This student also recommends
remaining uninvolved and alludes to more formalised rules as the main motivating
factor. The possibility of getting into trouble is a deterrent to participating in the
exclusion of another.
In fact, this finding resonates with research on efforts to prevent social exclusion,
harassment and bullying in schools. Schools that work to develop clear rules that are
consistently implemented by all members of the community do see a decrease in the
incidences of social exclusion and bullying (Glover et al., 1998). Having a clear sense
of standards or consequences of treating each other in certain ways is important to
students’ thinking about participating in exclusion or not. These adolescents
believed it would be better to remain uninvolved for reasons of social conventions
and, thus, choose bystanding as the most appropriate strategy in this situation.
While rules and policies were used to justify students’ choice to bystand, they were
not a predictor in their choice to upstand. The third finding from this study is that
those students who demonstrated an awareness of possibilities for change were more
likely to recommend Upstanding strategies. As our model indicates, students who
used Prosocial Transformational justifications were more likely to suggest helping
the victim as the best strategy over bystanding (b51.81, p,.001). The
recommendation to upstand is accompanied by the belief that change in the larger
social context is a possibility.
One response of this type exemplifies the connection between perceiving
opportunities for change and a recommendation to help the victim: ‘I think that
she should have said something because it might have had some kind of effect on the
group’s presence (sic) and future actions.’ This student articulates an awareness that
speaking up may have an impact beyond the immediate situation and could alter
Moral choices 177
others’ behaviour. The recommendation to upstand is accompanied by the belief
that prosocial change in the larger social context is possible.
Lastly, school context was a significant predictor variable. Adolescents in School
A and School B were more likely to choose defending the victim as opposed to
remaining uninvolved (b51.84, p,.05; b52.22, p,.001). To try and understand
this effect of context to a greater degree, we included school-level variables in the
model to account for sociocultural characteristics, such as race, parental educational
attainment and family income. None of these variables was significantly related to
the choice of one strategy or another. This finding suggests that the differences
between social choices in schools A and B may be associated with contextual factors
occurring inside each school, such as the school climate or the non-academic aspects
of school (Freiberg, 1999).
Discussion
In this study we explored the way adolescents responded to case material about an
incident of social exclusion. We developed a qualitative coding framework to capture
the strategies adolescents recommend for negotiating the situation as well as the
justifications they offer for their chosen strategy. Using these coding categories, we
analysed the differences between adolescents’ strategies and justifications from the
vantage point of witness as well as perpetrator. We also examined the various
influences, both at the individual and contextual levels, on adolescents’ chosen
strategy. Overall, the findings from this study, and in particular the method of
coding, offer a way to assess the interplay between contextual factors and
adolescents’ choice of action in social situations, such as an incident of social
exclusion.
Findings suggest that the factors adolescents perceive as most salient in their social
environment—as captured by the justification categories—were significantly related
to their choice of strategy. For example, attention to rules and social norms seemed
to play an important role in adolescents’ choice to bystand as opposed to the choice
to perpetrate. Adolescents who used conventional justifications in their responses
were more likely to recommend remaining uninvolved than joining in the exclusion.
While not perpetuating a situation of exclusion may be a more socially or morally
acceptable choice, our findings also suggest that a focus on rules did not influence
adolescents to choose an upstanding strategy rather than bystanding. It was when
adolescents perceived their action as presenting possibilities for prosocial change that
they were more likely to recommend helping the victim. These adolescents interpreted
opportunities for change in their social context and perceived possibilities for things to
be different, or better, in the future. Adolescents who feel their social environment
welcomes participation, and is open to being transformed, are more likely to get
involved when they witness exclusion or other acts of injustice.
Theoretically, it is important for adolescents to think beyond merely remaining
uninvolved and instead consider standing up for the person being harmed as a way to
make change, not just for the individual but for the group or the context as well. It is
178 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
also of practical importance when thinking about how school or classroom climates
can most effectively support students in this type of thinking in order to prepare
citizens who will actively contribute to a peaceful and just society.
This does not mean that other interpretations of the context, such as those
focused on safety or relationships, are immature, invalid or not as ‘good’ or ethical in
either the descriptive or the prescriptive sense. As our findings suggest, justification
categories are not meant to reflect an adolescent’s internal cognitive capacity or
developmental maturity alone. Rather, justification categories represent an
individual’s social analysis, as informed by their developmental capacities, past
experiences and their perception of their immediate situation at a particular moment
in time (LaRusso & Selman, 2003). We do not assume individuals who justified a
strategy on this measure with concerns about safety or conventions, for example, are
necessarily less ethical or socially mature or incapable of using a relational or
prosocial transformational justification, particularly if socialised or engaged in a
context that promotes respect, trust and care. Justification is as much a measure of
those factors in the environment that an individual perceives as most salient when
making a social choice, as it is the individual’s capacity to consider change in a
caring, respectful and trusting context.
Can students’ justifications then be used as a more nuanced way to capture their
potential moral development over time? For example, after the implementation of an
intervention—an anti-bullying curriculum or Facing History unit for example—it
may be the hope that students would be more likely to use, or at least reflect upon
the possibility of a prosocial transformational justification. Embodied within
individuals, this particular way of thinking about choices and action may be
interpreted as coming from adolescents who can hold images of themselves as
proactive moral agents. Their perceived responsibility to take action for the future
good suggests that these adolescents feel capable of working toward social change
and attempting to make a positive difference in the world.
However, those adolescents who offer these justifications are more likely to be
embedded already within social contexts that promote and support thinking about
possibilities for transformation. That these adolescents’ primary concern is not safety
or immediate protection implies they have the privilege, or the courage, to
incorporate these concerns into the consideration of how situations might be
different. Their use of a prosocial transformational justification can be interpreted as
an indicator of healthy individual development as well as a reflection of features of a
supportive context that promotes and supports such thinking.
Limitations
The analyses of these two questions have several potential limitations. First, as with
any method that presents individuals with a dilemma, the responses generated by the
In Group Assessment present a picture of adolescents’ thinking about their choices,
as opposed to what they might actually do in such a situation. Multiple methods of
data collection would contribute important information to examine the comparison
Moral choices 179
between moral thought and action. Secondly, in this study, school serves as a proxy
for multiple demographic variables, including race and socioeconomic status.
Thirdly, different dilemmas from the In Group Assessment, with variation in topic,
gender of protagonist, etc. might yield different outcomes, but it is important to
know if the categories of strategies and justifications have some generality. Future
research should consider ways to further differentiate these factors as a way to
explore cultural influences on social choice. To further explain contextual
differences between schools, future studies should include measurement of
classroom and/or school climate. Additional information about the atmosphere
within classrooms and school could point to the factors that are particularly
influential in the way adolescents think about social choices. Lastly, to examine the
impact of developmental differences on the variation of strategies suggested and
justifications provided, a broader age range of students should be included.
Conclusions and implications for moral education practice
Interpersonal and intergroup relationships in schools are gaining increasing attention
in research and practice in education and social development (Ladd et al., 2002;
Greenberg, 2003; Selman & Dray, 2006). As awareness of the risks of social
exclusion increases, more schools are implementing prevention programming in an
attempt to decrease the incidence of such types of behaviour (Greenberg, 2003;
Brown et al., 2004). After such interventions, teachers, counsellors, or program
evaluators may initially hope that students will recommend (or at least see as an
option) a strategy that helps or stands up for the victim. Getting involved to support
the victim of a situation of social exclusion, or injustice more broadly, might seem
like the more moral or sophisticated response.
However, practitioners and researchers alike must look beyond the strategy
students recommend for negotiating such social situations. It is not enough to know
whether an individual would suggest helping the victim or joining the perpetrators;
the justifications offered for students’ actions are also important to take into
consideration. Without a more thorough understanding of why students might
suggest particular actions, practitioners and researchers run the risk of making
potentially incorrect judgements about their framing of particular social and moral
perceptions, as well as their general social and moral development.
As developmental contexts, schools play a critical role in supporting adolescents’
thinking about moral choices and actions, both within the schools themselves and in
the broader societal context. Schools can provide adolescents with an environment
that encourages healthy choices and promotes positive relationships between
individuals. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of educators and researchers to
collaborate and communicate in their exploration of the factors that contribute to
these kinds of learning contexts. Adults play a part in the design and maintenance of
prosocial classroom and school climates that are safe and supportive, that encourage
discussion of challenging issues such as the one depicted in our measure and that
present possibilities for students to engage in change efforts. It is in these types of
180 L. F. Feigenberg et al.
environments that we have a better chance of seeing students choose to be
upstanders, or at least to value upstanding, based on their capacity to envision and
weigh a diverse range of justifications.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the generous support of funders, the Facing History
organization and Erin O’Connor for her statistical consultation. The ‘In Group’
measure and initial coding frameworks for the measure were developed as part of the
Facing History and Ourselves ‘Improving Intergroup Relations among Youth’
research initiative funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (1996–1998).
The research was further supported by the Spencer Foundation and a Harvard
Graduate School of Education Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship.
Notes
1. The research initiative was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and included an
outcome study (See Schultz et al., 2001) and a qualitative case study (See Barr, 1998).
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www.jsser.org
Journal of Social Studies Education Research
Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi
2020:11 (3), 220-241
Influence of the Family on the Process of Forming a Child’s Personality: Types of Families:
A Case of Modern Youth Prose
Galina Bozhkova1, Olga Shatunova2 & Elena Shastina3
Abstract
The article is aimed at studying the types of modern families and identifying their influence on the
formation of the younger generation, using the material of prose for children and adolescents. The
novelty of the study is in the fact that there is not a single work studying the variety of families in
modern literature. The nature of the work was determined by the method of content analysis, which
allowed us to obtain reliable data from the literary context by studying its formal-substantive
features. Тhe authors obtained interesting results. Modern books for children were analyzed in
terms of age peculiarities and divided into two categories: texts for preschoolers and for young
adolescents. In the works for preschoolers, dominant narratives are about child-centered and
zoological families; this is explained by age specifics, since the texts are addressed specifically to
children ages 3 to 7. The situation changes significantly in literature for teenagers, in which
problems become global and insoluble; the proof is the replacement of the child-centered, multi-
generational family with a personality-centered, incomplete, asocial one. These changes lead to
misunderstandings between generations and to inevitable problems.
Key words: types of families; children’s and youth literature; parenthood models; the role
of family in the younger generation’s upbringing
Introduction
In addition to the educational function, children’s and youth literature has a therapeutic effect on
both children and adults; the problems raised became extremely relevant in the digital era, which
contributes to the separation of the younger generation not only from reading but from family
members. In this regard, family relationships and the influence of the family on the formation of
the personality of the child, which are of particular value in the era of globalization and
computerization, are especially indicative (Curran et al., 2020; Johnson & Hinton, 2019; Karakus,
2018; Korableva et al., 2019; Lafer & Tarman, 2019; Yañez et al., 2020). This article is devoted
1 Dr.,Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Tatarstan, Elabuga, Russian Federation, bozhkova.galina@mail.ru
2 Dr.Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Tatarstan, Elabuga, Russian Federation, olgashat67@mail.ru
3 Dr., Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Tatarstan, Elabuga, Russian Federation, shastina@rambler.ru
mailto:bozhkova.galina@mail.ru
mailto:olgashat67@mail.ru
mailto:shastina@rambler.ru
Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2020: 11 (3), 220-241
221
to the study of family types in modern literature for children and adolescents. Despite scientists’
active interest in the influence of the family on the formation of the child’s personality, the issue
of family types in literary materials is here considered for the first time. The authors reviewed the
works of such writers as Anna Dewdney, Lisa Papp, Catherine Leblanc, Narine Abgaryan, Iva
Procházková, Rose Lagercrantz, Marina Aromshtam, Daniel Pennac, Lygia Bojunga, Dina
Sabitova, Stanislav Vostokov, Timothée de Fombelle, Irina Zartayskaya, and Beate Teresa Hanika.
This study translates the writers’ views on the problem of the influence of the family, on the
formation of the personality of the child. The opinion of the authors of works of art is new and
original, and therefore it is impossible to neglect them; this argument allowed us to reinforce the
importance of research, which reveals a new look at the problem: Modern authors claim that, being
carried away by upbringing and the desire to grow a competitive, successful personality, parents
forget about exhibiting a warm attitude to their children, instead focusing on the material, selfish
good. They lose a full-fledged dialogue, turning family relationships into personality-centered
ones. Parents exert a harmful influence on the children, destroying their identity with their
edification. Moreover, modern prose for youths has not been studied. Children’s writers are trying
not only to attract the readers’ attention with a book but also to help by solving private problems,
including family ones (Akim et al., 2019; Camarero-Figuerola et al., 2020; Vural, 2019). The right
to legitimacy is recognized for children’s literature in modern society. Modern children’s literature
is modified, adapted to the signs of the new reality, supplemented by new family types, and reflects
modern children and adolescent problems of personal and family life (Cáceres-Reche et al., 2019;
Saenko et al., 2019).
Research Objectives
The purpose of the study is to analyze family types in the works of modern literature for children
and adolescents and clarify family influences on the personalities of the younger generation. More
specifically, this study aims to answer the following research questions:
1. What types of families dominate the works of modern prose for preschoolers and
schoolchildren?
2. How do family behaviors affect the formation of a child’s personality?
3. Are there more similarities or differences in the descriptions of the types of families in the
works for preschoolers and schoolchildren?
Bozhkova et al.
Literature Review
Many scholars reflect on the influence of the family on morality in the modern digital world. For
instance, the Guyana Ministry of Education (2018) website hosted an article titled “The Family
Influence on Children’s Morals,” which presented to the reading audience the principles of humane
parenting in a modern family, such as justice, personal example, and understanding. According to
Budzey (2019), there is a belief that it is necessary to develop the spiritual and moral component
of the child’s personality not only in school but also in the family, but parental employment is
deprived of the main thing: informal communication. The problem of the influence of family
education is considered by Orlova (2017), who is convinced that conflicts can be avoided by using
a democratic style of communication in families.
Writers creating works for children and adolescents also enter the discussion about the role
of the family in the formation of the younger generation. Authors such as Aromshtam (2010), de
Fombelle (2017), Sabitova (2018), Vostokov (2014), Bojunga (2014), Hanika (2009), and Pennac
(2004) argue that the personality is influenced by the style of communication in the family and the
experience of married life, but they urge that special attention be paid not to the formation of
adaptability, flexibility, branding, or non-standard attitudes in the child, but to the psychological
health of the younger generation; this is the undeniable novelty of modern works. In this regard,
they urge parents to abandon their own ambitions and strive to create child-centered families, live
in the interests of children, forgive their mistakes, and accept them for who they are (Olalowo,
2020). World authors visualize the problems of interpersonal relationships and use a mirror
technique, allowing readers to recognize themselves in the text and begin to change.
Scientists such as Fitzpatrick (1998), Orlova (2017), and Korchagina (2017) proved that
the family has uncompensated vital capabilities to create an adequate, cultural, competitive
personality and provide it with social protection. Each individual family establishes its own rules,
customs, and atmosphere, which completely affect the identification of a child’s personality via
the law of intergenerational continuity. Fitzpatrick (1998) noted that full interaction between
husband and wife primarily contributes to the creation of a harmonious family, and he considers
verbal and non-verbal ways of couples reacting to each other. Farver et al. (2007) proved that the
formation of a sustainable identity in migrants’ children is connected with the strategy and identity
of parents; therefore, it is necessary to strive for a solidarity parenthood model focused on
nationwide models. Umaña-Taylor et al. (2006) share this point of view.
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Zhukova et al.’s (2014) criteria of family typology classifies composition, number of
children, characteristics of role distribution and nature of interaction, social homogeneity, value
orientations of the family, age of family life, place and type of residence, professional employment
of spouses, and the nature of sexual relations that directly affect the upbringing of the younger
generations, with the following classifications: As for family composition, they distinguish
between single-generation, nuclear, and multi-generation (traditional) families. As for the number
of parents, families can be complete or incomplete. As for the number of children, families with
one child, families with two or more children, and childless families (when a child is not born in a
family during 8-10 years) are distinguished. As for kinship, families can include biological
children, adopted children, and guardianship. As for family experience, the following types are
distinguished: newlyweds (honeymoon families), young families (from six months to one and a
half years before the birth of the first child), families expecting a child, families of middle
matrimonial age (from 3 to 10 years), families of senior matrimonial age (from 10 to 20 years),
and older married couples. By place of residence, there can be urban, rural, and remote families.
By type of residence, families are divided into patrilocal (living in the husband’s house after
marriage), matrilocal (living in the wife’s house), neolocal (living separately from relatives), and
godwin-marriage (living apart together). In accordance with the characteristics of distribution of
roles, there can be traditional families (characterized by the traditional distribution of male and
female roles, the supremacy of an authoritarian spouse; such families can be both patriarchal and
matriarchal), egalitarian or equal families (implying the primacy of both spouses or its absence, a
clear distribution of roles with an uncertain, modifiable structure; these are mainly young couples
without children, since the birth of children makes the spouses’ lifestyles well-ordered), and
democratic, or partnership, families (determined by equal rights of both spouses, joint seniority, a
changing and renewed role structure and responsibilities, taking into account common interests).
As for spouses’ professional employment, they distinguish full-employment families, partial-
employment families (where one of the spouses works), families of pensioners (where both
spouses do not work), and two-career families (where career growth and well-being are more
important for both spouses). According to the value orientation, the following can be distinguished:
child-centered families (the priority value is attention and care for children), personality-centered
families (in which the goal is to create conditions for achieving goals and ensuring the optimal
personal growth for each family member), consumer families (orientation toward hoarding and
Bozhkova et al.
general satisfaction of personal needs), psychotherapeutic families (in which the goal is mutual
understanding, emotional support, love, and safety), “healthy lifestyle” or wellness families
(focusing on health, proper relaxation, sports, cleanliness, and order), and “intellectual” families
(in which education, books, art, cognition, creativity are the priority). Depending on the type of
sexual relationship that goes beyond the generally accepted standards, the following are
distinguished: open families, i.e., the boundaries of sexual relations between spouses are free; and
homosexual families, i.e., the long cohabitation of same-sex spouses (Zhukova et al., 2014).
This research regards both Zhukova et al.’s (2014) typologies of families and the opinions
of the authors of literary works, since in the 21st century there is a need not merely for upbringing
but for the dialogue of parents with their children so that the child might quickly adapt to the
realities of modern reality, become resilient, and increase their ability to learn; however, they
deliberately avoid edification in their works, and this is a peculiar method of working with both
parents and children. Modern writers offer the right to choose, portraying full-fledged families in
works for preschool children and problematic ones in teenage prose.
Method
This study used qualitative and quantitative approaches. The main design involves content analysis
and thematic analysis.
Research design
This article is an interdisciplinary study, the main task of which is to analyze the species factors
of the family that affect the development of the younger generation. This design method involves
the selection of literary texts by world contemporary authors, the main object of the image in which
is the theme of the family. Thus, the study includes the following stages of work:
1. Selection of texts. We selected 14 modern works for children and youths highlighting the
influence of the family on the formation of the younger generation.
2. Selection of classifications. In this case, we gave preference to the classifications of
Zhukova et al. (2014).
3. Interpretation of modern literary texts. The quantitative method of content analysis made
it possible to work with formal content units of the text and translate them into a percentage,
reflecting the results in tables and diagrams. A qualitative figurative-thematic analysis
made it possible to see the influence of types of families on the formation of the personality
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of the younger generation, as well as to see the similarities and differences in modern prose
for preschoolers and adolescents.
Such qualitative and quantitative approaches made it possible to identify the species characteristics
of families and to prove the influence of family types on the formation of the personalities of the
younger generation. This research reflects the contemporary social reality that is predicted in
literary texts.
Sources of data
The source of the study was the corpus (the substantive-formal units of a literary text: the study of
family images and the motives of the behavior of artistic images). The qualitative data included:
14 literary families, including 7 families of preschoolers and 7 families raising teenagers. This data
is visualized in Table 1.
Table 1
Sources of data
№ Author Title
Literature for preschoolers
1. I. Zartayskaya “Nobody Loves Me”
2. C. Leblanc “Here She Is!”
3. A. Dewdney “Llama Llama: Time to Share”
4. L. Papp “Madeline Finn and the Library Dog”
5. R. Lagercrantz “My Happy Life”
6. N. Abgaryan “Manyunya”
7. I. Procházková “Elias and the Granny from the Egg”
Literature for adolescents
1. M. Aromshtam “When the Angels Rest”
2. T. de Fombelle “Girl from Tower 330”
3. D. Sabitova “Your Three Names”
4. S. Vostokov “Frosya Korovina”
5. L. Bojunga “The Yellow Bag”
6. B. T. Hanika “Little Red Riding Hood Must Cry”
7. D. Pennac “Dog”
Data collection procedure
The data collection procedure involved the selection of factual material, the study of the theme of
the family in contemporary works of authors who received literary awards, the analysis of family
types, and revealing their role in shaping the personality of the younger generation. For this, we
chose an equal number of families in prose for preschool children and adolescents. When
classifying families in texts, we relied on the study by Zhukova et al. (2014), which focuses on
composition (complete/incomplete), number of children (large, without children, with 1-2
children), emphasis on health and cleanliness in the house, etc. We were more interested in the
Bozhkova et al.
value orientation when working with families (child-centric; in crisis, experiencing divorce,
conflicting; problematic, asocial, having bad habits, health problems, etc.); Zhukova unites these
types of families with the term personality-centric. We found that:
1. In works for preschoolers, children-centered families dominate, and in works for
teenagers, families are in crisis, problematic, and incomplete.
2. Family behavior is crucial in personality formation; therefore, in children’s prose,
children are happy and open to friendship and communication, and in teenage prose,
heroes are vulnerable, lonely, depressed, and suicidal (Table 3).
3. In the analyzed families, there are more differences for preschool children and
adolescents. From the point of view of value orientations in children’s literature, six
families are child-centered, although there is one family in crisis, and all families are
young (living together for no more than 5 years). Families in adolescent prose, on the
other hand, are in crisis and problematic, only one family is child-centered, and all the
families are of older marital age (from 10-20 years of cohabitation). The difference is
as follows: Families in prose are idealized for preschoolers (this is a call for correction),
young families are in front of the reader, and families in youth literature are recited by
the eyes of adolescents themselves, which makes it possible to see a crisis in relations.
Data analysis techniques
To analyze the data, this study used a summative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Zhang
& Barbara, 2016) and applied an inductive analysis (Patton, 2002). The summative content
analysis examined the quantitative data at the beginning, then went to the qualitative data that
involved themes and inferences of the whole data. The analysis process included seven steps, with
transforming data into written text as the first step. Second, the unit of analysis was set, identifying
messages in the units, where each unit was coded (De Wever et al., 2006). In the third step,
categories were developed and a coding scheme was administered to involve category names,
definitions or rules for assigning codes, and examples (Weber, 1990). The fourth step was to test
the coding scheme by checking the coding on a sample text, checking coding consistency, and
revising coding rules in an iterative process until sufficient coding consistency was achieved
(Weber, 1990). Fifth, the entire corpus of the text was coded until sufficient consistency had been
achieved. Sixth, assessing the coding consistency involved rechecking the coding of the entire data
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set. The seventh step involved drawing conclusions from the coded data by making sense of the
themes or categories and their attributes, and making inferences and presenting reconstruction of
meaning derived from the data.
Operationally, this study analyzed the data by preparing scores obtained from
impressionistic and in-depth evaluation into the narrative texts (Zhang & Barbara, 2016). Each
point in the checklist was identified by score and the overall attributes were narrated in the written
text. In addition, results of interviews in the FGD, field notes, and memos that supplemented the
results of checklist were drawn in the narrative texts. Based on the narrative texts obtained from
the transformation of the checklist into narrative text and the results of interviews, field notes and
memos, the unit of analysis was identified. The identification represented the items of
impressionistic evaluation as well as the in-depth evaluation. Respectively, the unit of analysis was
coded, and the coding was tested for consistency, until all texts received their own coding.
Verification of the final coding was confirmed whether the analysis was confirmed to answer the
research questions of this study (Kulm et al., 1999; Sahim, 2020; Zhang and Barbara, 2016).
To answer the research questions, the socio-philosophical and pedagogical literature on the
problem of the article were analyzed to ensure that there is not a single study that gives an idea of
the types of families in modern prose for youths, especially comparing families in prose for
preschool children and schoolchildren and establishing their influence on the formation of the
personality of the child, although contemporary authors are included in the discussion and cover
similar problems in fiction.
Answering the first research question, we analyzed the images of families in literary texts
for preschool children, and after that we paid attention to the value orientations in families for
teenagers. “Krippendorf’s content analysis method” (Krippendorff, 2009) and quantitative
approach made it possible to visualize qualitative data using numerical values, to fix text content
elements (in our case, the frequency of occurrence of different types of families), followed by
quantification of the data obtained.
The data obtained made it possible to answer the second research question to see the
dominant types of families in children’s and teenage prose and the influence of the species
characteristics of the family on the younger generation.
We chose the unit for the spread “analysis of Spreadley” (Weber, 1990) to answer the third
research question. The most common thematic analysis of Spreadley in socio-literary studies was
Bozhkova et al.
used. We applied its comparative aspect, which made it possible to make qualitative observations:
to interpret and compare families in works for different age groups of readers (7-10 years old and
11-16 years old).
Results and Discussion
Research Question 1. What types of families dominate the works of modern prose for
preschoolers and schoolchildren?
Having ascertained what types of families prevail in works for different age groups, we can see
the reasons for both the negative and positive influence of parents on the formation of the
personalities of the younger generation. To confirm these comparisons, we analyzed the images of
families first in works for children 3-7 years old. Families in literary works for preschoolers are
harmonious, for they are created to fulfill therapeutic functions (Shastina, 2019).
Figure 1. The percentage of different family types in modern literary works for preschoolers and primary
schoolchildren
The authors analyzed seven families in literary works for preschoolers and primary schoolchildren,
of which three (42%) are zoological families; this is explained by the use of allegory by the authors,
and the life of animals is much more interesting and understandable to preschoolers. Six families
are child-centered (86%); it can be assumed that children’s authors refuse to injure young readers
and strive to form a morally healthy person. The fact that many families decide to give birth to
only one child is evidenced by both statistics and the facts reflected in a literary work, as only two
families (28%) have more than one child. The number of multi-generational families (three; 42%)
is decreasing, as grandparents either cannot look after their grandchildren or there are no
grandparents. The number of single-parent families is growing; there are three of them in the study
(42%). The number of crisis-ridden families is disappointingly increasing as well (28%) (see
Figure 1). The transition from a child-centered to personality-centered family and from a complete
to incomplete, crisis-ridden family is most intensively manifested in literary works for adolescents.
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Having studied works for preschoolers, the works for adolescents were analyzed. The
family loses its paramount importance as a social unit, the basis of spiritual, moral principles; this
fact is obvious in modern prose for teens.
The authors of the article analyzed seven families in the works of teenage prose and drew
attention to the large percentage of problematic and crisis-ridden families. The number of single-
parent families did not decrease (three; 42%), asocial families appear (two; 28%), and families
with one or two children (five; 71%) are still more numerous than multi-child families (two; 28%)
(see Figure 2).
Figure 2. The percentage of different family types in modern teenage prose
The meaning of this conclusion is that in families with teenagers, the number of personality-
centered, crisis families that are indifferent to the problems of children is growing. The contrast
between families in preschool and adolescent prose is obvious and is also related to the fact that in
preschool prose, families are young and unburdened by interpersonal and social problems, and in
adolescent prose, families have experience and are tired of problems, so they either abuse alcohol,
are overworked, or frustrate children. In works for teenagers, parents focus only on their interests,
and depressed, lonely teenagers grow up unable to adapt to the conditions of complex reality. We
will talk about the qualities that form these or other types of families in children in the conclusion.
Research Question 2. How do family behaviors affect the formation of a child’s personality?
We managed not only to see the types of families but to observe how family behavior affects the
formation of the child’s personality: In families where parents are attentive to the problems of their
children (child-centered), full-fledged life-resistant personalities are formed.
Bozhkova et al.
Table 2
Personal qualities formed in child-centric families
№ Author Title Family-formed qualities Hero
1. I. Zartayskaya “Nobody Loves Me” Love for loved ones Wolf Cub
2. A. Dewdney “Llama Llama: Time to Share” The ability to be friends,
sympathy for people
Llama Llama
3. L. Papp “Madeline Finn and the Library
Dog”
Ability to achieve goals,
resilience
Madeline Finn
4. C. Leblanc “Here She Is!” Mindfulness, sacrifice Little Bear
5. N. Abgaryan “Manyunya” Friendship, philanthropy,
devotion, hard work
Manyunya,
Nara
6. R. Lagercrantz “My Happy Life” Friendship, philanthropy,
devotion, hard work
Dani
7. D. Pennac “Dog” Sacrifice, love for animals,
determination
Dog
Such families are mainly in works for preschoolers, since the authors idealize reality, fearing to
hurt young readers; but, according to children’s writers, it is necessary to strive for a similar model
of relationships based on mutual understanding, since problem and crisis families in teenage prose
bring personality to the formation of the following qualities:
Table 3
Personal qualities formed in crisis and problematic (personality-centered) families
№ Author Title Family-formed qualities Hero
1. I. Procházková “Elias and the Granny
from the Egg”
Loneliness, indecision Elias
2. M. Aromshtam “When the Angels
Rest”
Loneliness, indecision Alina
3. T. de Fombelle “Girl from Tower
330”
Irritability, suicidal
tendency, need for love
Teenager
4. D. Sabitova “Your Three Names” Secretiveness,
bashfulness, loneliness,
distrust
Margot
5. S. Vostokov “Frosya Korovina” Early adulthood,
irritability
Frosya
6. L. Bojunga “The Yellow Bag” Loneliness, the need to
change gender roles
Raquel
7. B. T. Hanika “Little Red Riding
Hood Must Cry”
Depression, unwillingness
to live
Malvina
Research Question 3. Are there more similarities or differences in the descriptions of the types
of families in the works for preschoolers and schoolchildren?
After becoming acquainted with fiction, we juxtaposed works for preschool children and
adolescents in order to comprehend the spectrum of interpersonal relationships and problems. In
works for preschoolers, child-centric families dominate (six out of seven); in texts for adolescents,
crisis and problem families are widespread (we combined two close species in the classification of
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Zhukova et al. (2014)). This data difference is due to the fact that the reader looks at the family in
works for preschool children through the eyes of a small child, and in youthful prose, through the
eyes of a hero experiencing the difficulties of puberty.
Table 4
Comparison of the types of families in works for preschoolers and schoolchildren
Child-centric families in the literature for preschoolers (young families)
№ Author Title Relationship basis
1. I. Zartayskaya “Nobody Loves Me” Endless love
2. C. Leblanc “Here She Is!” Trust, love
3. A. Dewdney “Llama Llama: Time to Share” Tolerance, love
4. L. Papp “Madeline Finn and the Library Dog” Tolerance, love
5. R. Lagercrantz “My Happy Life” Tolerance, love,
understanding
6. N. Abgaryan “Manyunya” Tolerance, love,
understanding
Crisis, problem families in works for preschoolers (young families)
1. I. Procházková “Elias and the Granny from the Egg” Selfishness, careerism
Crisis, problem families in works for teenagers (older marriages)
1. M. Aromshtam “When the Angels Rest” Selfishness, careerism
2. T. de Fombelle “Girl from Tower 330” Selfishness, careerism
3. D. Sabitova “Your Three Names” Selfishness, careerism
4. S. Vostokov “Frosya Korovina” Selfishness, careerism,
indifference
5. L. Bojunga “The Yellow Bag” Selfishness, careerism,
indifference
6. B. T. Hanika “Little Red Riding Hood Must Cry” Irritability, selfishness,
detachment
Child-centric families in works for teens (older marriages)
1 D. Pennac “Dog” Love, patience
The meaning of this conclusion is to make sure that families in works for teenagers and
preschoolers are different. This allows us to conclude that young families are stronger, therefore
they are child-centric in works for kids; additionally, it is easier to love young children because
they are obedient, not having their own ideas about life, and adolescents are already vulnerable,
trying to understand themselves and society, and are forced to observe the crisis relations of
parents. Zhukova et al. (2014) suggest that the crisis of married life is imposed at the beginning of
the puberty of children, and it is especially difficult for adolescents: they lack love, understanding,
and sometimes they consider themselves to blame for adult quarrels and separations.
The authors argue that parents need to give up their own comforts—careers, alcohol, the
desire for a personal life, a selfish race for material values—in order to educate a healthy moral
person. If adults can overcome personal temptations, the crisis of married life can also be avoided.
Families in children’s prose are examples, and in teenagers’ prose are an anti-example.
Bozhkova et al.
A discussion of the influence of families on the personality of the child, as well as a diverse
palette of types of families, is present in the texts we have outlined, so we pay special attention to
this discussion so that the results of our interpretations are understandable. First we turn to the
texts of works for preschoolers. All the books are united by problems any parent can face. For
example, in “Here She Is!” French author Catherine Leblanc considers the crisis of older children
after the birth of younger ones; the author suggests that young parents trust the older children to
care for the new baby, and thus, the children become friends and parents have more free time.
Every second modern family has 2 to 3 children, so the problem raised by Leblanc in the book is
very relevant. The first children are often spoiled by young parents and grandparents, so it is
difficult for them to cope or put up with a new family drama. The book is recommended for family
reading, as it describes situations in which both a child and an adult can recognize themselves.
Leblanc is a child psychologist who subtly conveys children’s experiences and emotions in her
books. The family in the book is zoological, complete, nuclear, child-centered, a family with two
children, and neolocal.
American writer Anna Dewdney addresses the common problem of childish greed in
“Llama Llama: Time to Share.” In a family of llamas, a little boy does not want to share his toys
with anyone, but when a family of cows comes to visit him, he goes through three stages: At first,
he does not share, then he gives away the toys he does not play with, and soon he easily comes to
an understanding with the little guests. This family is zoological, complete, child-centered,
neolocal, with one child. This story is very useful to be read by parents of children ages 2 to 7. It
prepares for growing up, the ability to overcome difficulties, and trusting relationships in the
family.
Russian author Irina Zartayskaya’s story “Nobody Loves Me” centers a family of wolves,
answers the eternal children’s protest “nobody loves me,” and opposes parental punishments. In
families with a small child, this phrase can often be heard, and parents often get tired of it;
therefore, the author explains that children are never unloved in the family. Children do not
understand that parents’ prohibitions and punishments come from a place of love. Zartayskaya
describes a zoological, complete, child-centered family, with one child and multi-generational
(traditional). It is worth noting that families with grandparents or great-grandparents are better in
educational terms, since in such families they always have time for the child, who feels more
protected and needed but is not always independent and responsible.
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The role of the family in addressing the issue of children’s reading is considered by
American writer Lisa Papp in “Madeline Finn and the Library Dog.” The author addresses
canistherapy, a type of animal therapy in which specially trained dogs undergo treatment and
rehabilitation with patients. In the book, the “library” dog helps little Madeline overcome her fear
of failure and achieve the desired learning outcome. Patient dogs are best suited for the role of
listeners for small patients. It is important to note that the girl’s family is neolocal, incomplete, and
child-centered. Despite the fact that there is no grandmother, grandfather, or father, the mother
does not despair, and her love and attentiveness help to reveal Madeline’s depression and
constraint, which prevented her from learning to read. A loving mother will remove the
psychological barrier by means such as animal therapy; this method not only helped the girl, but
made her more confident and made it possible to find a real friend.
The family from “My Happy Life” by Swedish author Rose Lagercrantz seems the
opposite. It is worth noting that this literary work is addressed to younger students, and the range
of problems is much wider. Dani, who lost her mother in early childhood, is experiencing a family
crisis calmly thanks to the efforts of her single father. Dani’s dad tries to be both parents and
supports Dani in everything. Dani calls this period “happy.” This is probably because she notices
the efforts of her father, feels loved, and meets her best friend. Dani’s family is incomplete,
neolocal, child-centered, and crisis-ridden, as the girl grows up without a mother and none of her
relatives are available to help.
Armenian writer Narine Abgaryan, in the humorous trilogy “Manyunya,” presents the
Abgaryan and Shatz families. The autobiographical novel is filled with vivid memories of the
writer’s childhood and the people who played important roles in forming the personality of little
Narine. The main characters are the girls, Nara and her friend Manyunya, and a terrific
grandmother, Gran. Manyunya’s grandmother is the very strict yet friendly head of the Shatz
family, consisting of Manyunya, grandmother, and father. The Abgaryan family consists of Nara’s
mother, father, and her three sisters. The family compositions are different, but the author says that
their families were united, and they were brought together by love. For Nara, Gran became her
own grandmother, and Nara’s mother replaced Manyunya’s mother. Thus, readers can see a
complex phenomenon: two families as one complete, multi-child, child-centered, neolocal, multi-
generational family. After all, the main goal of upbringing is the formation of a competitive
personality capable of overcoming difficulties and knowing the needs of the modern world. In
Bozhkova et al.
Soviet Russia, such friendly family unification was common and brought good educational results;
in Narine’s memoirs, childhood was the happiest time, and the girls achieved a lot in life.
The story “Elias and the Granny from the Egg” by Czech author Iva Procházková touches
upon an equally important and widespread problem in families with children. Seven-year-old Elias
dreams of his busy parents finding time to play with him. The boy considers the absence of
grandparents to be a misfortune because “… they always have time for you” (Procházková, 2013).
The tale is also interesting because Elias’s dream comes true, and a grandmother with wings,
mentally similar to a child, hatches from an egg. Elias has to take care of his grandmother, as she
is still learning and growing. Changing roles, Elias becomes a little father, but when his
grandmother grows up, she becomes Elias’s friend. One cannot help but notice the absent
grandparents, whose love the child found in a fictional world. This is a crisis-ridden, complete
family, which becomes multi-generational in the finale.
We can see how families and attitudes change in works for teens. Russian writer Marina
Aromshtam, in the story “When the Angels Rest,” describes a typical situation of suppressing the
talents of a child at school. The main character, Alina, is in a class headed by a strict teacher with
traditional attitudes. Alina’s family consists of a mother, grandfather, and grandmother, and
although she does not know her father, she really wants him to return. Alina’s mother does not
care about her daughter’s problems at school; only the grandparents are concerned about this. The
grandfather does not like the lifestyle of the girl’s mother, so Alina becomes a constant witness to
their quarrels. Aromshtam also shows Alina’s attitude to her mother’s lover. The girl becomes
jealous of a potential family member, and she feels rejection and even hatred. She often asks about
her father and when he will return to the family; it is obvious that the teenager lacks fatherly love.
The girl’s family is incomplete, complex, crisis-ridden, with one child.
An incomplete, problematic family is also depicted in the story “Girl from Tower 330” by
French author Timothée de Fombelle. The mother of a teenager is sure that the ideal upbringing is
to dress and feed the child. The narrator admits that his mother is never at home: “She worked
tremendously a lot and constantly went on business trips. I saw her once a month. She wanted me
to have everything I need. The delivery man rang at the door at ten in the evening. I received a
large amount of everything: eight boxes every Monday. I managed to eat three eggs, a few jars of
paste and some broccoli in a week” (de Fombelle, 2017). Even in a difficult time, the main
character cannot get through to his mother.
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Russian author Dina Sabitova’s striking story “Your Three Names” is about the difficult
fate of a girl who lost her parents in a fire. At the beginning of the book, Sabitova tells Margarita’s
story before the tragedy. This is a vivid example of a problematic family: “Mom and Dad are
arguing all the time. Sometimes they fight. Rita and Gelya then hide in the entrance hall or on the
stove. They sit quietly, because Tatka [her father] can hit them – when angry, it’s all the same to
him: Mom, Rita or the cat can run into him in the heat of the moment” (Sabitova, 2018). The girl
and her mother, father, and sister Gelya live in a village. The girls’ parents invite guests very often
and drink alcohol. The father often beats his daughters, but Rita does not cease to love him and
justifies him in the story. Thus, the girl took responsibility for household chores. The girls’ parents,
although irresponsible and unbearable, do not cease to be parents and take care of them. The
children grow up, afraid of their mother but respecting and loving her. The need to love and
idealize parents is an indisputable fact. Rita is unable to live in well-to-do families after the loss
of her parents. Her family is complete, problematic, crisis-ridden, neolocal, asocial, rural, with
two children. Independent children grow up in such families if they do not live to their parents’
example. Rita is different from her parents, reading all the books written by their neighbor and
decorating her room with her own art. It can be assumed that the parents will not be an example
but an anti-example for the young character.
Another rural family is shown in the humorous novel “Frosya Korovina” by Russian author
Stanislav Vostokov. The main character Frosya comes from a family of wealthy peasants and lives
in a modern-day village. Frosya is an interesting person, identifying herself as a village woman,
talking to everyone as an adult, and helping her grandmother in everything. The character appears
to the reader as a very serious, courageous, and independent girl who looks like a teenager.
Frosya’s parents are geologists who are rarely at home. Her grandmother pities her and reports that
her parents love geology more than their own daughter. But Frosya has long accepted this situation
and behaves like an adult. This family is complete, distant, neolocal, rural, crisis-ridden, two-
career, one-child, multi-generational. One can see the motives of loneliness and orphanhood with
living parents. Frosya lives as the mistress of the house with a pet chicken as her only friend, and
her elderly grandmother strives to teach Frosya to survive.
French writer Daniel Pennac, in the story “Dog,” has an original approach to depicting the
family, telling the tale from the point of view of a homeless dog. The author raises exciting
questions about responsibility for those whom we domesticated. The family with whom Dog lives
Bozhkova et al.
is ordinary, urban, and modern. A girl had long dreamed of caring for a dog, but her parents do
not want to be responsible for the pet; the measure of their parenting is selfish, equating “well-fed”
and “clothed” with “happy.” Many parents demonstrate to their children that one can treat any
living being poorly if they get bored. But still, the dog’s loyalty and friendship change all the
characters. The family described by the author is complete, nuclear, urban, child-centered, and
one-child. One-child families often raise selfish children, consumers of life; statistics confirm that
in one-child families, children who dream of friends often get pets instead and, unfortunately,
cannot become good guardians for pets.
A different family is depicted by Brazilian writer Lygia Bojunga in the novel “The Yellow
Bag.” Raquel admits that it is difficult to be a child; she wants to grow up soon and be a boy,
because she is an unwanted child in the family, born out of place and by mistake. Deprived of
attention and care, Raquel lives in her dreams. She endows an ordinary yellow bag with magical
properties and stores her secret diaries in it for safekeeping. An object expressive element—a
yellow bag—is an imitation of happy reality, warmth, and friendly communication. She is
convinced that if she had been born a boy, an heir, everyone would cherish and love her, so she
writes in her diary using a boy’s name and dreams of becoming a boy; she is persecuted by her
sisters, who steal her yellow bag. The family is complete, multi-child, problematic, and nuclear.
In multi-child families, parents very often assume no responsibility for raising children by
transferring it to older children, but the fragile psyche of adolescents cannot perceive such
injustice.
The family in “Little Red Riding Hood Must Cry” by German author Beate Teresa Hanika
is also problematic, crisis-ridden, multi-children, and asocial. The story calls for frankness and
attempts to interpret a well-known folk tale based on family problems. In Malvina’s family, the
parents refuse to address the children’s problems; only a comfortable existence is important for
them. The senior family members escape their duties to the children in predictable ways—the
mother has migraines, the father is at work all day—and only their hatred for the grandfather brings
them together. At the behest of her parents, Malvina becomes a victim of her grandfather’s
violence; she must visit him daily and bring him cheese and wine, and her complaints are
dismissed. Unfortunately, this incident is not unique either in life or in the literary work.
We analyzed the types of families in previously unexplored works of children’s and youth
prose, and received the following meanings: the dominant type of family is personality-centered
Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2020: 11 (3), 220-241
237
(its varieties are crisis, problematic), the model of behavior that forms a huge number of ailments
in the younger generation. Unlike many researchers, the authors of all works are sure that it is
necessary to strive for the formation of a healthy personality, and not a competitive and
multitasking one. This can be achieved through a dialogue between parents and children, a return
to the methods of upbringing of the past, while adopting some convenient forms of upbringing
proposed by modern reality.
Conclusion
The current study examines the impact of the specific characteristics of families on the formation
of the child’s personality. The authors made their conclusions by analyzing 14 families in modern
children’s literature. The authors were able to prove that the opinion of modern authors involved
in the discussion should not be neglected. The three research questions were answered according
to the classifications of Zhukova et al. (2014):
1. In works for preschool children, child-centric families dominate; this contributes to the full
formation of children 5-7 years old. Puberty problems are aggravated in troubled families,
and older children feel lonely, defenseless, and commit irreparable acts. If in children’s
prose, wealthy families are faced with temporary minor difficulties, such as the birth of the
second child, egoism of spoiled children, or unwillingness of children to learn, attention is
concentrated not on the interpersonal relationships of adults but on the problems of life
perception in children. The situation changes dramatically in prose for teens: The analyzed
texts include instances of loneliness, divorce, scandal, drunkenness, careerism, and incest.
2. The authors have shown that families in works for preschool children form such qualities
in children as love for family members, compassion, philanthropy, and hard work; families
in works for teenagers develop irritability, loneliness, and suicidality. The reasons are that
for young families, the center is the child, and in adult families, the parents are paramount.
3. Based on this, in families in literary works for adolescents and children, there are more
differences. Young families in prose for children manage to keep calm, have fresh feelings
for each other, and the main goal of life remains raising toddlers. In adolescent literature
about adult families, parents are experiencing a crisis of life and material difficulties, so
there is less time for raising children, and adolescents require a special attitude. According
to the authors, parents need to be aware of this and strive for dialogue with their children
rather than authoritarian behavior.
Bozhkova et al.
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
This study has limitations because its subject is the family in modern prose for children. Future
research should therefore look at family influence on the personality of the younger generation in
broader terms and consider the influence of families on the growing personality in the literature of
previous eras, as well as in prose for adults. Compare data from past eras with modern variables,
see the causes of regression or progress in relations between children and adults. Based on these
limitations, the use of quantitative methods is recommended for future research to study a number
of variables that may be interconnected.
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Direct and indirect relations between parent–child
attachments, peer acceptance, and self-esteem for preschool
children
Alexandra Pintoa, Manuela Veríssimoa, Ana Gatinhoa, António J. Santosa
and Brian E. Vaughnb
aWilliam James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal; bHuman Development &
Family Studies, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
ABSTRACT
The present study aims to test Bowlby’s suggestions concerning
relations between the child’s attachment quality with parents and
subsequently constructed models of self-worth during early child-
hood. In most research on this question, attachment with mothers
is considered in relation to self-worth but the child’s attachment
with fathers is not. Neither has the peer group been studied as an
influence on child self-esteem, in the context of attachment
research. This study addresses these relatively unstudied influ-
ences on child self-esteem. Attachment security to mother and
father was measured by the Attachment Behavior Q-Set at two
and half years of age. At five years of age social acceptance was
measured using two sociometric techniques, and the self-esteem
with the California Child Q-Sort. Our analyses indicated that secur-
ity of the attachment to father and peer acceptance are both
unique, significant predictors of the childrens’ self-esteem. The
security of the attachment to mother was also related to child
self-esteem but did not emerge as a uniquely significant predictor.
Peer acceptance appeared to moderate of the effect of the secur-
ity of the attachment to father on the self-esteem of children. Our
results extend the relatively sparse literature relating early attach-
ments to self-esteem during early childhood.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 6 June 2015
Revised 6 September 2015
Accepted 8 September 2015
KEYWORDS
Self esteem; attachment to
mother; attachment to
father; peer acceptance;
preschool
Attachment theory implies that the child’s mental representation (or internal working
model) of attachment with parents informs and is intertwined with mental representa-
tions of self (Bowlby, 1973; Cassidy, 1988, 1990). Bowlby (1982) believed that this could
occur because the child’s mental representations of attachment relationships are co-
constructed (with the parent) from the repeated experiences of parental sensitivity and
responsiveness to the child’s communicative signals and parental acceptance of and
support for the child’s exploratory activities over the early years of life. When the
aggregate of child experiences with a parent was characterized as sensitive, responsive,
and supportive, the child would experience being valued, loved, and important, and the
initial self-model should reflect these qualities. On the other hand, children whose
CONTACT Manuela Veríssimo mveriss@ispa.pt
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, 2015
VOL. 17, NO. 6, 586–598
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2015.1093009
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
experiences with a parent were, on average, insensitive, unresponsive, and not suppor-
tive would likely experience devaluation, lack of love, and insignificance, and their initial
self-models would be expected to reflect these qualities. Bowlby felt that these early
self-models would, if not modified by subsequent experiences, also inform subsequent
expectations about the quality and utility of relationships with important others over
significant periods of developmental time.
Bowlby’s speculations about the origins of self-models (or self-concepts) and self-
evaluation (or self-esteem) are deeply connected to social theories of self (e.g., James,
1890; Mead, 1913) and have prompted a substantial body of research relating aspects of
attachment to self-esteem. However, the bulk of this research and scholarship is not
developmentally informed and concerns concurrent associations between measures of
attachment security and measures of self-esteem in samples of school-age children,
adolescents, or adults. Only a handful of studies have attempted to document associations
between attachment in infancy or early childhood and self-esteem (or other self-qualities)
in children less than seven years of age (e.g., Cassidy, 1988; Clark & Symons, 2000;
Goodvin, Meyer, Thompson, & Hayes, 2008; Sroufe, 1983; Verschueren, Marcoen, &
Schoefs, 1996), and only the work of Verschueren and associates (e.g., Verschueren,
Buyck, & Marcoen, 2001; Verschueren, Doumen, & Buyse, 2012) can be considered pro-
grammatic. For the majority of these studies, attachment and self-data were collected
concurrently, so the temporal ordering of attachment and self-esteem could not be tested
(see Sroufe, 1983, for an exception to this generalization, and Clark & Symons, 2000, for a
failure to predict self-measures from earlier attachment assessments). Moreover, only a
few of these studies included measures of father–child attachment in their assessment
protocol, so the potential influence of multiple attachments on self-esteem is not known.
Kerns, Mathews, Koehn, Williams, and Siener-Ciesla (2015) compared attachments to both
the mother and father and they reported that children were more likely to use the mother
a safe haven when they were distressed or threatened and more likely to use the father as
a secure base for exploration. These kinds of results illustrate the importance of assessing
attachments to more than one attachment figure during childhood. Thus, a primary
purpose of the present study was to examine relations between early (age 2.5) assess-
ments of attachment security for both mothers and fathers (from Attachment Q-sort, AQS,
data) and later (age five) assessments of child self-esteem.
In part, the modest pace of research testing relations between attachment quality and
self-esteem in early childhood is due to the difficulties associated with obtaining valid
assessments of self-representations and self-esteem for children under six years of age.
Different research teams have adopted several different approaches to assessing child self-
esteem, including teacher reports of child self-esteem (e.g., Sroufe, 1983; Verschueren &
Marcoen, 1999), self-reports of perceived competence and self-evaluation using the
pictorial scales designed by Harter and Pike (1984; see also Cassidy, 1988; Clark &
Symons, 2000), “puppet interviews” thought to reflect self-feeling, doll-play story comple-
tion protocols designed by Cassidy (1988), and child self-reports (e.g., Eder, 1990; Goodvin
et al., 2008). Unfortunately, these measures do not always converge on a common
dimension and the Harter and Pike (1984) Pictorial Perceived Competence scales seem
especially weak in this regard (e.g., Cassidy, 1988; Clark & Symons, 2000). For this study, we
used a behavioral assessment of self-esteem derived from intensive observations of
children in their preschool classrooms that were summarized using the California Child
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 587
Q-Sort (Block & Block, 1980). The Q-sort descriptions provided by observers were scored
for self-esteem using the criterion profile suggested by Waters, Noyes, Vaughn, and Ricks
(1985).
Although Bowlby’s theory of attachment identifies links between self-models and
their attributes (e.g., self-esteem) and the organization of attachment behavior in the
early years, attachment theory does not mandate that parent–child attachments be the
sole source of self-models. Indeed, an abundance of evidence has shown that self-
evaluations reflect the opinions of all salient social groups and self-esteem may vary
within the individual as a function of shifting salience of different groups over shorter or
longer periods of time (e.g., James, 1890; Kernis, 2005). By the time most children in
modern, developed societies reach five years of age, it is normative that they spend
weekdays in non-parental childcare settings (Eurydice Network, 2009), and many studies
have indicated that self-esteem measured in those settings is associated with the quality
of child social functioning, as indicated by measures of peer acceptance, numbers of
friendships, and relationships with teachers (e.g., Sroufe, 1983; Verschueren et al., 2012).
In particular, young children who are more accepted (as playmates or as friends) tend
to have higher scores on measures of self-esteem (e.g., Coplan, Findlay, & Nelson, 2004;
Emidio, Santos, Maia, Monteiro, & Veríssimo, 2008) and similar results are reported for
older children (e.g., Boivin & Hymel, 1997; Egan & Perry, 1998; Verschueren et al., 2001). It
seems important, therefore, to include measures of social functioning in a salient peer
group when studying the influences on self-esteem during early childhood, even if such
measures must be obtained concurrently with the assessments of self-esteem, and to
test whether relations between attachment and self-esteem may be mediated or mod-
erated by child social functioning in the peer group. Accordingly, we assessed both
children’s peer acceptance in their group and self-esteem when the children were
five years of age for this study.
This study was designed to test a critical assumption of Bowlby’s attachment theory
(1973, 1982) concerning the connections between representations of parent–child
attachment relationships (in this study, relationships with both parents), formed by
the time the child is 2–3 years of age (scored from observed behaviors referencing the
child’s use of the parent as a secure base for exploration and haven of safety when
stressed) summarized using the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS; Waters, 1995), and child self-
esteem at age five years. Child self-esteem is measured using an observational protocol
with a defined criterion for the self-esteem construct, rather than a direct test or inter-
view with the children. We test the hypothesis that attachment security with each
parent is positively associated with the index of self-esteem, and further test whether
the associations between self-esteem and each parent remain significant when both are
simultaneously entered into a regression analysis. Previous research findings suggest the
hypothesis that peer acceptance and self-esteem will be positively associated, and we
test whether associations between parent–child attachment security and self-esteem
remain significant when peer acceptance is included as a predictor of self-esteem in
regression analyses. Finally, we explore whether associations between parent–child
attachment security, peer acceptance, and self-esteem meet the criteria for testing
mediation or moderation effects. When the possibility of either type of statistical inter-
action is present, relevant analyses are designed test these effects.
588 A. PINTO ET AL.
Participants
The study sample consisted of 45 children (23 girls and 22 boys) who were participating
in a larger study of attachment development and associations between attachment and
social competence in the peer group. Initial observations for the purposes of assessing
attachment relationships with mothers and fathers were made when the children were
2–3 years old (M = 32.2, DP = 0.75). Classroom observations and peer acceptance
assessments were completed in the children’s preschool classrooms when they were
five years old. The sample was homogenous for socioeconomic status, belonging to a
medium-high socio-economic stratum, by the standards of the local community. All
children attended a private preschool education center in the district of Lisbon, Portugal.
The study protocols were reviewed and approved by the relevant review boards for the
use of human subjects in research. Parents received information about the research
project and its purpose, and completed an informed consent (63% of the parents
participated in the home assessments, while 85% consented to the preschool observa-
tions and interviews). The level of maternal education ranged from nine to 23 years of
schooling (M = 15.00, SD = 3.04) and the paternal education levels were between 4 and
19 years (M = 15.1 SD = 3.33). The average age of mothers was 35.8 years (SD = 4.67) and
for fathers was 38.3 years (SD = 6.6).
Procedures
After the children reached their second birthday, the parents were contacted to schedule
home visits for the purpose of observing child behavior (with each parent separately).
Parents were asked to schedule a time when they would be alone in the house with the
child, or when other adults and children could conveniently be in a different area of the
home, so as not to interfere with the parent and child being observed. Two observers came
to the home on the same visit and both completed observations of child behavior over a 2–
3 hour observation period. Parents were briefed that the purpose of the visit was to observe
the child with the mother/father in their daily routines and, as such, each parent was asked
to maintain these routines with as little change as possible. Observers didn’t interfere with
the family routine, but participated in the children’s games when requested and talked
informally with the mother/father, taking care not to disrupt the interactions between
mother/father and the child. When necessary, and following the conversation with the
mother/father, questions were asked about items that could not be observed during the
visit. Observations were summarized using the Attachment Q-Sort (Waters, 1995; see below)
and different teams of observers completed home visits for the mother and father of each
child participant. A researcher who was expert in the use of the AQS with young children
trained each home observer before the home observations for this study were initiated.
During the training period they discussed the intended meanings of the items with the
expert and used the AQS to describe an “ideally secure” two-year-old.
After the child reached age five years, and was enrolled in the preschool program at
the child care/education facility, teams of observers and interviewers (different than
those completing the AQS observations) completed observational assessments of
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 589
behavior and personality attributes that were summarized using the California Child
Q-Sort (CCQ; Block & Block, 1980). Q-sort observers were trained by a researcher who
was expert in the use of the CCQ with preschool age children. Before initiating observa-
tions, these observers discussed the intended meanings of the individual CCQ items and
sorted the 100 items to describe the “ideal preschool age child”. Peer acceptance was
assessed using two picture sociometric interview protocols (nominations and paired
comparisons) that were completed during the period when children were being
observed by the team doing the CCQ assessments.
Measures
AQS
The AQS (version 3.0; Waters, 1995) assesses the organization of the child’s secure base
behavior in relation to an attachment figure in an ecologically valid context (i.e., at
home) and allows for a detailed description of children’s attachment behavior when
observed with a specific attachment figure (van IJzendoorn, Vereijken, Bakermans-
Kranenburg, & Riksen-Walraven, 2004; Waters & Deane, 1985). The Q-set consists of 90
individual items that are sorted into a rectangular (i.e., each of nine categories contains
10 items) distribution. The distribution range indicates whether a given item is
“Uncharacteristic” (categories 1–3), neither “Characteristic nor Uncharacteristic” (cate-
gories 4–6), or “Characteristic” (categories 7–9) of the child being observed. After the
sort is completed for an observer, a score for attachment security is derived by correlat-
ing (Pearson) the vector of scores in the observer’s description of the child with the
“security criterion Q-sort” published by Waters (1995). These correlations become the
child’s score for attachment security and indicate the relative similarity between the
Q-sort description of the child and the Q-sort description of the “hypothetically most
secure preschool child” provided by experts in the field of attachment development.
Thus a relatively high value indicates greater similarity between the two Q-sort compo-
sites. In practice, 90% of scores tend to be between −0.5 and 0.6 and the means for
children classified as “secure” using the Strange Situation Procedure tend to range
between 0.35 and 0.5 across diverse samples (van IJzendoorn et al., 2004). In this
study, intra-class correlation (ICCs) agreements for the AQS criterion scores across all
rater pairs were r = 0.71 for mothers and r = 0.72 for fathers. Consequently, the Q-sort
descriptions were averaged (for each of the 90 items) and final security criterion scores
were calculated from this aggregated sort from both observers.
Self-esteem (CCQ)
As noted above, the CCQ (Block & Block, 1980) was used to assess the children’s self-
esteem. Two observers independently observed all participating children in a given
classroom over a period of 20 hours (i.e., 20 hours for each observer). Observations
took place over 5–10 class-days and observers took care to observe each participating
child across the full range of contexts available in the classroom (e.g., meals, free choice
activities, structured activities, playground, etc.). After completing all observations, each
observer used the CCQ to describe the behavior and personality of all participating
children in the classroom. Again, a rectangular distribution of items was used (i.e., 11
items in each of nine categories, with the last item being placed in the middle of the
590 A. PINTO ET AL.
distribution) and criterion scores for self-esteem (Waters et al., 1985) were calculated for
each child following the same rationale as for the AQS criterion scores. That is, Waters
et al. reported on a self-esteem criterion sort provided by researchers who were expert
in the self-esteem dimension and in the behavior and development of young children.
Every participating child received scores for Q-sorts provided by each observer Median
ICC estimates for each class pair of observers for the self-esteem criterion scores was
0.89, therefore, sorts for the two observers were averaged for each item, and final
criterion scores were calculated from this aggregate (M = 0.60, SD = 0.15).
Peer acceptance
Each participating child was interviewed individually to obtain peer acceptance data using
the nominations protocol described by McCandless and Marshall (1957) and again using
the paired comparisons procedure described by Vaughn and Waters (1981). For the
nominations procedure, photos of each participating child in a classroom were presented
to the child making nominations (randomly rearranged for each child). First, the child was
asked to name all peers in the photos, to determine that the child knew every participat-
ing classmate (no child failed to correctly identify all peers in the array of photos). Then,
the child was asked to identify a classmate with whom he/she especially liked to play. The
chosen child’s photo was removed from the array and the question was repeated again,
twice (for a total of three positive choices). After identifying three preferred playmates, the
child returned to the array and was asked to name three children with whom she/he did
not prefer as a playmate. These scores were not used in this study. Scores were the
number of times a child was chosen as a preferred playmate by peers (adjusted for class
size by calculating the average value for each child across all classmates making choices).
For the paired comparisons task, paired photo stimuli were prepared in which each
participating child was paired with every other participating child in the classroom (e.g.,
a total of N – (N-1)/2 pairs, or 190 pairs in a class of 20 children). A child’s image was
presented an equal number of times on the left and right sides of the display, to avoid
any potential position bias by the responding children. Nearly all children completed
this task in two sessions of about 15 min each. A child’s image was presented an equal
number of times on the left and right sides of the display, to avoid any potential bias by
the responding children. For each pair of images, the child was asked which of the two
children she/he preferred as a playmate. Scores were the number of times a child was
chosen by peers as a preferred playmate, adjusted for class size by taking the average
value of positive choices by dividing the total by the number of children making choices.
Following standard conventions for sociometric data, the nominations and paired
comparisons scores were standardized within each classroom. A final score for peer
acceptance was computed by taking the average of these two standard (i.e., Z-) scores.
Preliminary analysis
Means and standard deviations for the variables under study are shown in Table 1. The
values for AQS security scores with parents are at the high end of expected mean values
for the AQS and suggest that, on the whole, the behavior of these children was more
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 591
similar than not to the behavior of the hypothetically “very secure preschool child”
described by experts (Waters et al., 1985). For this sample, AQS scores were also
significantly correlated across mothers and fathers, ICC = 0.42, F(1, 43) = 2.46, p < .01.
Consistent with the notion that the secure children are somewhat over-represented in
the sample, the CCQ self-esteem score is also relatively high, again suggesting that the
empirical Q-sort profiles (i.e., sorts of child participants) shared about 36% of their
variance with the profile of the hypothetical “high self-esteeming preschool child”.
Because peer acceptance scores were calculated over all participants and were standar-
dized (Z-scores) within the classroom group, class means were set at zero with a standard
deviation of approximately 1.0. Thus, themean of 0.25 for this sample suggests that well-liked
children are over-represented here, however, this variable has a relatively large standard
deviation and the range of scores is considerably greater than for the other study variables.
Associations among the study variables
Pearson correlations among the study variables are presented in Table 2. As noted
above, the age two AQS security scores were significantly correlated across parents
and both were also significantly correlated with self-esteem assessed at age five. Peer
acceptance at age five was also a significant correlate of self-esteem, however, neither of
the AQS security scores were significantly associated with peer acceptance.
Effects of attachment security with mother and father and peer acceptance
A series of multiple regression analyses, were computed to test the primary study hypoth-
eses. Self-esteemwas the dependent variable and the other study variables were predictors.
The correlation values reported in Table 2 indicate that the criteria for mediation suggested
by Baron and Kenny (1986) are not met in these data (i.e., attachment security variables are
not significantly associated with peer acceptance), however moderation of the relations
between AQS security and self-esteem by peer acceptance could be tested.
A hierarchical regression model with security scores entered at the first step and peer
acceptance at the second revealed that attachment security with both parents was a
significant predictor of self-esteem, R2 = 0.256, F(2, 42) = 7.23, p < .01. However, only the
security score with the father had a unique, significant beta weight. Adding peer
Table 1. Mean, standard deviation, and range values for study variables.
M SD Min Max
Attachment security to mother 0.48 0.21 −0.11 0.79
Attachment security to father 0.49 0.20 −0.03 0.78
Peer acceptance 0.25 1.16 −3.2 2.52
Self-esteem 0.60 0.14 −0.77 0.60
Table 2. Pearson correlations between the different variables.
Attachment security to father Peer acceptance Self-esteem
Attachment security to mother 0.42** 0.15 0.39**
Attachment security to father 0.02 0.46**
Peer acceptance 0.57**
**p < .001
592 A. PINTO ET AL.
acceptance at the second step significantly increased the predicted variance in self-
esteem, R2 = 0.537, F(3, 41) = 15.88, p < .001. Both the AQS security score with father and
the peer acceptance scores were unique, significant predictors of CCQ self-esteem.
Because the AQS score with mother was not a unique, significant predictor and
because the overall regression did not change substantially when this AQS score was
dropped from the predictor set (< 2% of predicted variance for self-esteem lost), we did
not include the AQS security score with mother in subsequent analyses. For the next
analysis, we included the AQS security score with father, the peer acceptance score, and
the interaction of these two, to test the possibility that moderation effects were present.
Results of this regression analysis are presented in Table 3. Both main effects and their
interaction were significantly predictors of CCQ self-esteem. To test for moderation
effects, the relation between AQS security with fathers and CCQ self-esteem was
examined at three levels of peer acceptance (M–SD = −.91, M = 0.25, M+SD = 1.41).
The plot of slopes at the three levels of peer acceptance is shown in Figure 1. The
relation between AQS security and CCQ self esteem was greatest when Peer Acceptance
Table 3. Testing the interaction of AQS security with father and peer acceptance in
the prediction of CCQ self-esteem.
Variable B b Significance b R2
AQS security, father 0.93 0.34 Z = 4.59***
Peer acceptance 0.46 0.12 Z = 5.23***
Security x Peer accept −0.46 −0.14 Z = −2.57*4 0.55
*p < .05 ***p < .001
Figure 1. Plot of slopes of relations between self-esteem and attachment security with father for
three levels of peer acceptance.
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 593
is low, b = 0.43, Z = 4.16, p < .001, and remains significant when Peer Acceptance is at the intermediate level, b = 0.28, Z = 3.42, p < .001. However, when Peer Acceptance was high (M+SD), the relation between AQS security with father and CCQ self-esteem is not significant (b = .13, Z = 1.19, p = .24). The slopes plotted in Figure 1 indicate that when AQS security with father is lower (i.e., less similar to the highly secure child), the child’s level of peer acceptance has greater influence on CCQ self-esteem than when AQS security with father is relatively high.
Empirical tests of Bowlby’s suggestions concerning relations between the child’s
attachment quality with parents and subsequently constructed models of self-worth
and self in relation to important others during early childhood have generally sup-
ported Bowlby’s speculations (e.g., Cassidy, 1988; Sroufe, 1983; Verschueren et al.,
1996), although there have also been studies that failed to find significant cross-
construct relations (e.g., Clark & Symons, 2000). We noted that most studies in
which positive, significant associations were found tested attachment and self-esteem
concurrently (but see Sroufe, 1983, as an exception) and nearly all studies only
assessed attachment quality with mothers. In this study, attachment security was
assessed using the AQS when the child was approximately 2.5 years of age, with
both mothers and fathers, and the CCQ self-esteem measure was collected when the
child was 5–6 years of age. Self-esteem was positively and significantly associated with
attachment security to each parent.
Our finding that attachment security predicts self-esteem in the peer group over
two years later supports Bowlby’s original speculative hypotheses and is consistent with
prior research. Nevertheless, we found that using both security scores together as
predictors of CCQ self-esteem indicated that the child’s attachment relationship with
the father was uniquely predictive and that security with the mother was not a unique
predictor of self-esteem in this sample. Moreover, when the classroom Peer Acceptance
measure was added to the prediction equation, the contribution of the AQS security
with mother was even further reduced. Indeed, when AQS security with mother was
removed from the prediction equation, the shrinkage in R2 was less than 2%. Together,
these results suggest that the correlation between child–mother attachment and CCQ
self-esteem three years later is largely accounted for by the association of child–mother
and child–father attachment security.
For this sample at least, the CCQ self-esteem score is more reflective of attachment
with fathers than with mothers. Our results are consistent with the findings of
Verschueren and Marcoen (1999) and of Suess, Grossmann, and Sroufe (1992).
Verschueren and Marcoen (1999) stressed the differentiation of roles of maternal and
paternal parenting and concluded that it is expectable that attachment security to the
father would be more strongly associated with self-esteem, as evaluated in this study,
because our measure is more related to aspects of the outside world and of socialization.
In turn, Suess et al. (1992) showed that child-father attachment was significantly related
to peer relationship skills at five years of age (less negative affect during play) while
child–mother attachment was significantly related to longer periods of concentrated
play at five years of age. Also, Kerns and colleagues (2015) reported that children used
594 A. PINTO ET AL.
mothers more as a safe haven when distressed and fathers as a secure base for
exploration. Finally, Steele and Steele (2005) considered different roles of the attach-
ment to mother and father in the child’s social and emotional development. They
proposed that the attachment to mother would be more related to the understanding
of the inner emotional world both of the others as of the one itself, while the attach-
ment to father would be more related to positive skills in the interaction with siblings,
peers and others. Because our self-esteem measure is intended to summarize the child’s
confidence and effectiveness in the context of peer interactions, it seems more consis-
tent with the “exploration” and “interaction” than with the “safe haven” or “inner world”
themes of attachment organization. Our findings reinforce the conclusions reached by
Verschueren and Marcoen (1999), who argued that security (to the mother and the
father) should influence different aspects or valences of the children’s self. In future
research, it will be important to use additional and more nuanced measures of self-
esteem to test whether relationships with each parent have different influences on the
child’s developing model of self and self-worth.
In turn, the moderating influence of peer acceptance reported in this study suggests
that self-esteem is not solely a consequence of attachment security. That is, when the
Peer Acceptance variable was included as a predictor in the regression analysis, this
variable more than doubled the predicted variance of CCQ self-esteem. We also found
that the interaction of AQS security with father and Peer Acceptance added a significant,
albeit modest and signed negatively, increment to the prediction of CCQ self-esteem.
Plots of the simple slopes for low, middle, and high regions of the Peer Acceptance
distribution showed that the relation between AQS security and CCQ self-esteem was
only significant when the child had lower and intermediate levels of Peer Acceptance.
This suggests the possibility that positive integration into the peer group can, at least in
part, compensate for a relatively lower quality attachment relationship with the father. It
will be important to attempt replications of this result in different samples from Portugal
and from other societies, especially because we have reasons to believe that this sample
may not be representative of Portuguese samples more generally.
We noted above that this sample was participating in a larger study of attachment
and social competence. All children in the larger sample (N = 157) were living with
two parents when they were recruited to the study and all mothers agreed to home
visits, but only 128 of the fathers agreed to participate in any aspect of the larger
study, and only 45 cases had both fathers’ home visits and a child who remained in
the sample after reaching age five years. It seems likely that families in which both
parents agree to be observed at home with their child feel more confident than other
parents and are less concerned about their child’s behavior being observed at home
than other parents. Moreover, it seems likely that parents willing to invite observers
into their homes on two occasions would share parenting attitudes, values, and goals
that would underlie greater family harmony and reduced family conflict, which, in
turn, would support the co-construction of secure attachment relationships with their
child. In fact, the AQS security scores in this sample are somewhat higher than might
be expected from other studies of children in their third year of life (e.g., Vaughn
et al., 2007). It is possible that family self-selection could have yielded a sample in
which children were generally more socially capable and more likely to be accepted
by peers and this may account for the elevated Peer Acceptance scores and relatively
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 595
high CCQ self-esteem scores that we observed. Of course, higher scores on study
variables would not per se lead to the prediction that AQS security should predict
CCQ self-esteem, and would not anticipate the moderating effect of Peer Acceptance.
Nevertheless, the nature of this relatively small sample does constitute a limitation on
interpretations of our findings. Clearly, relations among these variables need to be
examined in samples with greater SES, ethnic, and societal diversity.
We also relied on a somewhat novel assessment of self-esteem. Although Waters
and associates (Waters et al., 1985) described this measure and showed that self-
esteem scored from the CCQ was distinguished from related constructs in terms of
specific item placements in the criterion profiles, this measure has not been widely
used in self-esteem research. In part, the neglect of this measure may be due to the
time it takes to observe an entire classroom of preschool children and it may also be
due to the fact that the initial results are profiles of behaviors, personality attributes,
and preferences, rather than a single self-esteem “score”. Such scores are derived by
calculating the similarity between a given child’s profile and a “criterion” profile,
provided by developmental scientists who are expert with regard to the construct
(i.e., self-esteem) and are also expert in the social/emotional development of young
children. Q-methods have a long history in personality and developmental psychology
(e.g., Block, 2002; Block & Block, 1980; Vaughn, Santos, & Coppola, 2014; Waters, 1995;
Waters et al., 1985) and these methods could prove useful in addressing a wide range
of research questions. It will be useful in future research to examine the convergence
between this behaviorally based self-esteem measure and self-feeling/self-worth/self-
esteem scores from other measures (e.g., Cassidy’s puppet interview) that have been
used in other studies of young children.
To conclude, this study tested Bowlby’s speculative hypothesis that attachment
security with parents in the early years of life would become intertwined with later
constructed models of self and self-worth. Bowlby’s hypothesis received support in our
data, however, we found that attachment security with father was more implicative with
respect to later self-esteem than was attachment security with mother. Moreover, peer
acceptance assessed concurrently with self-esteem was also a unique predictor and
interacted significantly with father–child attachment to predict self-esteem.
Decomposition of the interaction suggested the possibility that higher peer acceptance
can compensate for a lower quality attachment to the father. Despite sample limitations,
these results extend the relatively sparse literature relating early attachments to self-
esteem during early childhood.
Data collection and preparation of this article has been supported in part by grants from the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT- PTDC/MHC-PED/3929/2012, SFRH/BD/
68480/2010 and UID/PSI/04810/2013). We acknowledge the support of all the colleagues that
contributed to data collection.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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- Abstract
Method
Participants
Procedures
Measures
AQS
Self-esteem (CCQ)
Peer acceptance
Results
Preliminary analysis
Associations among the study variables
Effects of attachment security with mother and father and peer acceptance
Discussion
Acknowledgments
Disclosure statement
References
fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 1
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 17 December 2020
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.587170
Edited by:
Antonius H. N. Cillessen,
Radboud University Nijmegen,
Netherlands
Reviewed by:
Juan De Dios Benítez Sillero,
University of Córdoba, Spain
Fabián Román,
Costa University Corporation,
Colombia
*Correspondence:
Saetbyul Kim
kim.7287@osu.edu
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Educational Psychology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 25 July 2020
Accepted: 24 November 2020
Published: 17 December 2020
Citation:
Kim S, Lin T-J, Chen J, Logan J,
Purtell KM and Justice LM (2020)
Influence of Teachers’ Grouping
Strategies on Children’s Peer Social
Experiences in Early
Elementary Classrooms.
Front. Psychol. 11:587170.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.587170
Influence of Teachers’ Grouping
Strategies on Children’s Peer Social
Experiences in Early Elementary
Classrooms
Saetbyul Kim1* , Tzu-Jung Lin1, Jing Chen2, Jessica Logan1, Kelly M. Purtell3 and
Laura M. Justice1
1 Department of Educational Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States, 2 Graduate School of
Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, 3 Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH, United States
Most children experience some form of grouping in the classroom every day.
Understanding how teachers make grouping decisions and their impacts on children’s
social development can shed light on effective teacher practices for promoting positive
social dynamics in the classroom. This study examined the influence of teachers’
grouping strategies on changes in young children’s social experiences with peers across
an academic year. A total of 1,463 children (51% girls, Mage = 6.79, SDage = 1.22)
and 79 teachers from kindergarten to third-grade classrooms participated in this study.
Teachers rated children’s behavioral problems as the most important consideration
when creating seating charts or assigning children to small groups. Promoting existing
or new friendships was rated as the least important consideration. Heterogeneous
ability grouping, rated as somewhat important by the teachers, was associated with
a decrease in children’s friendships and yet also a decrease in girls’ experience with
peer conflicts. Our findings begin to fill in the gaps in the literature on the social impacts
of ability grouping for young children.
Keywords: teacher grouping strategies, friendship, peer conflict, early elementary classrooms, peer
social experiences
INTRODUCTION
The classroom is a primary social context in which school-age children experience various
social interactions and relationships with peers. These peer social experiences have valence and
can lead to long-term impacts on children’s social and academic development (Coplan and
Arbeau, 2009; Oberle et al., 2010; Bulotsky-Shearer et al., 2012; Lin et al., 2016). As teachers are
the key social agents with whom children spend the majority of their time in the classroom,
they inevitably mediate children’s peer social experiences. This occurs in part through their
daily instructional decisions or classroom management, such as determining classroom physical
layout, governing with whom children collaborate, and maximizing cross-gender or cross-ethnic
interactions through heterogeneous grouping (Gremmen et al., 2018). These teacher practices
change the immediate social environment for children and their peers, which then shapes the social
integration of the classrooms.
Despite the importance of teacher practices in children’s peer social experiences in classrooms
(Gremmen et al., 2016), empirical evidence supporting the social influence of teachers’ practices
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Grouping Strategies
remains scarce (Hallinan and Sørensen, 1985; Gest and Rodkin,
2011). Particularly, little attention has been paid to the social
impacts of teachers’ grouping strategies, which refer to the ways
by which teachers assign students in groups within classrooms
for learning and instruction. This issue is important because
children experience some forms of grouping by the teacher each
day (Baines et al., 2003). These grouping practices mediate the
physical proximity between dyads of children, which then alter
their perception and interactions with one another (Van den Berg
et al., 2012). To date, studies on teachers’ grouping strategies
have primarily focused on how grouping affords teachers the
opportunity to tailor instruction based on different children’s
academic needs (see Saleh et al., 2007; Savanur et al., 2007; Nomi,
2009; Hong et al., 2012; Marks, 2014; Steenbergen-hu et al., 2016),
with a few exceptions that examined the role of teachers’ grouping
strategies in promoting more mixing or socially inclusive peer
interactions and relationships (Gest and Rodkin, 2011; Van den
Berg et al., 2012; McKeown et al., 2016).
To fill in this research gap, the purpose of this study
was to examine the role of teachers’ grouping strategies in
shaping children’s peer social experiences across the academic
year in early elementary classrooms. Specifically, we focused
on children’s friendship and peer conflicts because these social
experiences emerge early in child development and together
signify level of social inclusion in the classroom (Juvonen et al.,
2019). Considering that boys and girls tend to show distinct
profiles of socially competent behavior (Underwood, 2007; Card
et al., 2008; Godinet et al., 2014; Shin, 2017), we further examined
whether teachers’ grouping strategies have differential impact on
boys’ and girls’ friendship and conflict experiences.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Peer Social Experiences in Early
Childhood Classrooms
Children begin to form positive and negative experiences with
their classroom peers as young as preschool age (Ladd and
Price, 1987; Howes, 1988; Ladd, 1990). These experiences with
peers have shown long-term influences on children’s social
and academic development (Boulton and Smith, 1994; Coplan
and Arbeau, 2009; Oberle et al., 2010; Bulotsky-Shearer et al.,
2012; Lin et al., 2016). Positive experiences such as friendships
can provide a context for cooperation and negotiation (Carter
and Nutbrown, 2016) and ease children’s adjustment to school
life (Margetts, 2002; Corsaro, 2003; Peters, 2003). Meanwhile,
negative peer experiences such as conflict or aggression can
hinder children’s self-worth, social competence, and school
engagement (Kamper-DeMarco and Ostrov, 2019), leading to
loneliness, depression, and school dropout (Buhs et al., 2006;
Meyer and Ostrosky, 2018).
While classroom peer experiences can involve various
relational aspects, in this study we focus on children’s friendship
and peer conflicts, both of which are the most prevalent peer
experiences in young children, and can lead to a wide range of
socioemotional and academic difficulties across the life span, such
as school failure and dropout (Coie and Dodge, 1998; Chang,
2003; Kutnick and Kington, 2005; Shin, 2017; Kamper-DeMarco
and Ostrov, 2019). Research shows that as young as preschoolers,
at least 83 percent of children in the classroom were engaged
in friendships (Quinn and Hennessy, 2010), and the number
of friends that a child makes increases as they transition to
first grade (Hartup, 1992). Friendships are ‘egalitarian in nature’
(Schaffer, 1996, p.312), providing a relational context for children
to practice social integration with others (e.g., conflict resolution,
empathy, negotiation, Cillessen and Marks, 2017). In this aspect,
friendship relationships are key to promoting an inclusive and
supportive classroom atmosphere (Division for Early Childhood,
and National Association for the Education for Young Children,
2009).
Peer conflicts, often revealed in the form of physical aggression
or verbal dispute in young children, is normative and tend to
occur at high rates in the classroom (Odgers et al., 2008). It
occurs when children have incompatible needs, wishes, or goals
with one another (Hay, 1984). In a study based on the Early
Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1988-99
(ECLS-K), at least 10% of children in kindergarten experienced
frequent arguments and fights with peers (West et al., 2001). One
in every four to six children (15–23%) are victims of aggression
in primary school settings (Robers et al., 2012). It is crucial
for children to experience peer conflict as it provides children
opportunities to practice perspective taking, conflict mitigation,
and social-emotional regulation (Eisenberg and Garvey, 1981;
Rende and Killen, 1992; Malloy and McMurray, 1996; Miller et al.,
2004). However, escalated conflicts in the classroom can cause
negative emotion and stress, damage social relationships, and
hinder children’s school adjustment (Blair, 2002).
Together, friendships and peer conflicts comprise children’s
important social experiences that can have significant impacts
on their social, emotional, and academic development from the
early phase of lives through later developmental stages (Bulotsky-
Shearer et al., 2012; Kamper-DeMarco and Ostrov, 2019). It is
critical to identify key contextual factors that would hinder or
promote children’s peer social experiences. By this, we examined
teachers’ grouping strategies.
Teachers’ Grouping Strategies and
Children’s Peer Social Experiences
Putting children in groups is one of the everyday teacher
practices in the classroom. Grouping can take place in
various forms and structures (e.g., small groups, dyads, and
classroom seating positions) and varies by teachers’ purposes
and strategies. For instance, teachers may assign children to
work with their same-ability peers with the goal of tailoring
instruction based on children’s different academic needs (Patrick,
2020). Teachers may form groups of children with diverse
skills with the aim at stimulating diverse thinking (Murphy
et al., 2017) or promoting social inclusion and equity (Cohen
et al., 1999). When making a seating chart, teachers may take
into account children’s existing peer relationships or social
behavior with the goals of maintaining classroom order and
social cohesion (Gest and Rodkin, 2011). It stands to reason
that teachers’ attitudes toward grouping strategies may reflect
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their instructional priority and beliefs about peer influence
in the classroom.
Among various grouping strategies, ability grouping is the
most common and yet controversial grouping strategy (Slavin,
1987; Hallam and Parsons, 2013). One reason is that children’s
academic achievement is often a correlate of social status in
early childhood years (Rubin et al., 2006). Grouping children by
ability levels may either increase or flatten the social hierarchy
in the classroom, which then shape their social experiences
with peers. To date, however, ability grouping has mostly been
associated with students’ academic performance (Sørensen and
Hallinan, 1986; Slavin, 1987; Dreeben and Barr, 1988; Wilkinson,
1989). Research that examined the effects of ability grouping on
children’s social experiences is relatively scarce, most of which
focused on children’s self-esteem, self-concepts if not academic
attainment (e.g., Oakes, 1985; Gamoran and Berends, 1987; Kulik
and Kulik, 1992; Ireson et al., 2001; Suk Wai Wong and Watkins,
2001; Ireson and Hallam, 2005, 2009).
There are two contrasting ability grouping strategies.
Homogeneous ability grouping is known for its positive impacts
on children’s achievement (MacIntyre and Ireson, 2002). In
addition, working with like-minded classmates may increase
children’s sense of belonging (Riley and White, 2016) and
support teachers’ instructional differentiation (Patrick, 2020).
It is criticized, however, for its potential harmful effects on the
self-concepts and well-being of children with lower abilities
(Marsh, 1984; Oakes, 1985). Heterogeneous ability grouping is
assumed to enhance learning and interdependence because
working with peers with diverse skills may allow children to
recognize gaps in their own thinking and to foster a sense-making
process when more competent children provide explanations
and support to less competent peers (Wilkinson et al., 2010).
However, there is always a concern about sacrificing high-ability
children’s learning opportunity in heterogeneous ability grouping
(Mashburn et al., 2009).
Other teacher grouping strategies consider children’s existing
or potential peer relationships based on the assumption that
sitting or working with classmates in close proximity allows
children to learn about each other better, which then change their
relationships with one another (Pettigrew, 1998). Research on
seating assignment demonstrates that by manipulating children’s
seating positions, children who did not like each other at the
beginning of the school year showed higher likability with
each other as a result of close proximity (Van den Berg et al.,
2012). This influence of near-seated peers has been examined in
both classroom and small groups settings (Webb, 1989; Barth
et al., 2004; Burke and Sass, 2013; Gremmen et al., 2018).
The findings suggest that physical proximity likely increases
the likelihood of interaction between children; the increased
interaction help children recognize their similarity and develop
positive sentiments to each other (Homan, 1974). On the
contrary, the absence of proximity may create barriers for
friendship formation (Hallinan and Tuma, 1978).
Another common grouping strategy draws attention to
children’s behavioral problems. Children’s behavioral problems
have been noted as one of the prominent factors that disrupt
classroom learning and instruction in early childhood classrooms
(Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2000; Gutman et al., 2003). Findings have
been mixed regarding whether managing children’s behavioral
problems (e.g., fights, quarrel, and aggression) can have a
positive influence on children’s social development (Singer and
Hännikäinen, 2002; Spivak, 2016). For instance, Gest and Rodkin
(2011) showed that teachers who placed strong emphasis toward
separating children with behavioral problems had students who
expressed a stronger liking to each other and reported denser
friendship networks. Other research showed that intervening
in peer conflicts by directly separating the conflict children
as opposed to helping children develop mutually agreed upon
solutions can lead to negative conflict outcomes (Myrtil et al.,
unpublished).
Taken together, the existing literature suggests that teachers
make grouping strategies based upon various factors, including
children’s ability level, peer relationships, and problem behaviors.
Yet, findings are far from conclusive regarding how these
grouping strategies impact children’s social experiences with
peers. The current study aimed to address this research gap.
Gender Effects in Peer Social
Experiences
Ample theories and research highlight the importance of gender
in children’s peer social experiences. A substantial body of
research has shown that boys tend to show more externalizing
behaviors (e.g., physical aggression) and have more frequent
conflicts with peers than girls (Hamre and Pianta, 2001; Saft
and Pianta, 2001; Crick et al., 2006; Graves and Howes, 2011).
On the contrary, girls have been found to demonstrate more
prosocial behaviors and intimate friendships than boys (Berndt
and Perry, 1986; Chung and Asher, 1996; Rose and Asher,
2004; Van Leeuwen et al., 2006). Other studies show that boys
value independence and social dominance while girls place more
emphasis on harmonious relationships (see Rose and Rudolph,
2006).
Given the gender differences in peer interactions and
relationships, teachers’ grouping strategies may have differential
effects on boys’ and girls’ peer social experiences in the classroom.
It is likely that teachers may knowingly or unknowingly treat boys
and girls differently when applying the same grouping strategy
in the classroom (Troop-Gordon and Ladd, 2015). For instance,
teachers may separate more boys than girls because boys’ conflicts
or aggressive behaviors are more frequent and salient than girls’
conflicts. Research shows that the average rate at which teacher
react to children’s aggressive behavior was over three times higher
for boys compared to girls (Serbin et al., 1973). Alternatively, boys
and girls may react to teachers’ grouping strategies differently,
leading to different social experiences with peers. For instance,
when working with classmates in heterogeneous groups, boys
may be less coordinated, more impulsive, and show more
disruptive behaviors than girls (Serbin et al., 1973) and therefore
benefit less from working with peers with diverse skills.
The Current Study
This study was part of a large-scale, federally funded project
designed to understand the classroom ecology in preschool
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to third-grade classrooms. The data were collected from two
large, suburban school districts in a midwestern city in the
United States, including 2090 students from 96 classrooms
in 33 schools. The two school districts are representative of
the socio-economic and racial diversity of adjacent suburban
communities. This study excluded the preschool sample based on
the consideration that teachers’ grouping practices in preschool
classrooms might be fundamentally different from those in early
elementary classrooms due to more focuses on free play and non-
academic learning (Justice et al., 2020). In addition, preschoolers
might not have developed the same level of ability to reliably
report their social experiences compared to other older children
in this study (Chen et al., 2020).
Children’s peer social experiences in the classroom was
assessed using a sociometric method in which children were
asked to nominate an unlimited number of classmates who fit
certain selection criteria. Peers are key informants of children’s
social experiences because they spend a significant amount of
time with children under various social situations (Rubin and
Cohen, 1986; Coie and Dodge, 1988). Gathering classroom
peers’ perceptions of a child’s social experiences provides higher
level of objectivity than the self-report or parent report (Clark
and Ladd, 2000). We employed the unlimited nomination
approach because research suggests that unlimited nominations
can capture children’s social relationships more comprehensively
and reliably than the limited nominations approach (Cillessen
and Mayeux, 2004; Cillessen and Borch, 2006; Cillessen and
Marks, 2017).
Teachers’ grouping strategies were assessed based on the
teacher-reported measure developed by Gest and Rodkin (2011).
In their study, first to fifth grade teachers were asked to rate
the importance of five different grouping strategies when they
created a seating chart or assigned children in groups: (a)
reinforcing existing friendships, (b) promoting new friendships,
(c) ability grouping with homogeneous skill levels, (d) ability
grouping with diverse skill levels, and (e) separating students
with behavioral problems. They found that teachers generally
considered separating students with behavioral problems as
the most important grouping strategy, followed by promoting
academic diversity and new friendships. Teachers did not place
a strong consideration on forming academic homogeneity or
reinforcing existing friendships. Furthermore, classrooms tended
to have a higher ratio of liking to disliking and a higher density
of friendships if the teachers reported that separating students
with behavior problems was a major consideration in creating
seating charts and small groups. In this study, we considered
teacher-reported grouping strategies as a proxy of teachers’
actual grouping practices because previous research suggests that
teachers’ attitudes and beliefs drive their instructional decisions
(Fang, 1996; Vartuli, 1999; Muijs and Reynolds, 2002; Missett
et al., 2014).
In all, three research questions are addressed in this
study: (1) How do teachers from kindergarten to third grade
incorporate grouping strategies in their daily instruction? Based
on the pioneering study conducted by Gest and Rodkin
(2011), we hypothesize that early elementary teachers might
consider separating students with behavioral problems the
most important grouping strategy for creating a seat chart
of forming students in groups. Teachers may pay the least
attention to reinforcing existing friendships. (2) Are teachers’
grouping strategies associated with changes in children’s peer
social experiences across the academic year? We hypothesize
that grouping strategies that are rated as more important by the
teachers would be more associated with changes in children’s
peer social experiences. (3) Are the associations between teachers’
grouping strategies and changes in children’s peer experiences
moderated by gender? Based on the literature, we hypothesize
that gender can have a significant moderation effect on the
association between teachers’ grouping strategies and children’s
peer experiences.
To address these research questions, we controlled for
children’s gender, disability status, dual language status, and
maternal education based on previous findings suggesting that
friendships and peer conflicts can vary by these demographic
characteristics. Research shows that girls are more likely to have
best friends than boys (Sebanc et al., 2007). Boys tend to exhibit
more physical aggression (Crick et al., 2006; Juliano et al., 2006)
while girls are more relationally aggressive than boys (Crick et al.,
2004; Ostrov et al., 2004). Older children tend to have more
friends than younger children (Sebanc et al., 2007). Children
with lower socioeconomic status (Bradley et al., 2001; Raver
and Knitzer, 2002), different linguistic backgrounds (Eslea and
Mukhtar, 2000), and disabilities (Hemmeter et al., 2006; Odom
et al., 2006) are more at risk for negative peer social experiences.
Finally, we controlled for teachers’ years of teaching and self-
efficacy for managing peer relationships (e.g., How much can
you help students make friends at school?) in the classroom
because both have been found to associate with classroom quality
(Swanson et al., 1990; Brophy, 2006; Watson, 2006; Nahal, 2010;
Gebbie et al., 2012; Ryan et al., 2015).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants
The sample includes 1,463 children and 79 teachers from 20
public elementary schools located in two suburban districts in a
midwestern city. This was after removing the preschool sample
and one kindergarten teacher and her students because the
teacher did not fill out the teacher survey. Children [girls = 51%
(Kindergarten: 42.9%, Grade 1: 18.1%, Grade 2: 22.3%, Grade
3: 16.7%)] with an average age of 6.79 years (SD = 1.22).
About 14.8% of children were dual language learners and a
total of 7.8% were in individualized education plan (IEP). Many
children were White (61.1%). The distribution of other race and
ethnicity categories were Black (4.5%), Asian (8.5%), Multi-racial
(6.2%), and Other (2.0%). Teachers were mostly female (98.7%)
and White (92.4%). About 73.4% of teachers had a master’s
degree, followed by 19.0% with bachelor’s degree, 2.5% with other
degrees, and 5.1% who did not report their education level. Years
of teaching experience ranged from 2 to 35 years (mean = 14.21).
Measure
Peer Social Experiences
The peer nomination approach (Parkhurst and Asher, 1992; Chen
et al., 2020) was used to assess children’s peer social experiences.
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In the fall and spring, children received individual interviews
with field assessors to nominate unlimited number of children in
class who fit the nomination descriptions. Children were given a
class roster containing pictures of classmates in order to reduce
the cognitive need to recall names for nominations. Two items
were used in this study to assess three aspects of peer social
experiences: (a) conflicts: “In your classroom, who gets into fights
with other kids?,” and (b) friendship: “In your classroom, who are
your best friends?” Previous studies show that using single peer
nomination item to assess a unique aspect of social experiences
can yield satisfactory psychometric property (van den Berg and
Cillessen, 2013; Babcock et al., 2014). Even for children as
young as preschoolers, their peer nominations yield congruent
representations of peer social experiences with teachers’ reports
and researchers’ observations (Chen et al., 2020). The number
of nominations each child received from their classmates was
calculated and used to indicate the degree with which each child
experienced peer conflicts and developed friendships in their
classroom. In the current study, number of nominations children
received in the fall was significantly correlated with those in
the spring (rs = 0.56 and 0.51, ps < 0.01 for peer conflicts and
friendships, respectively).
Teachers’ Grouping Strategies
Adapted from Gest and Rodkin’s (2011) scale, teachers reported
the extent to which five grouping strategies were important
as they created the seating chart and assigning students to a
small group: (a) reinforcing existing friendships, (b) promoting
new friendships, (c) ability grouping with homogeneous skill
levels, (d) ability grouping with diverse skill levels, and (e)
separating students with behavioral problems. Teachers reported
their grouping strategies based on a 3-point Likert scale (0 = not
at all important, 1 = somewhat important, 2 = very important).
The ratings under two different settings (creating a seat chart,
small grouping) were average for each grouping strategy.
Procedure
Teachers completed surveys about their instructional practices
and beliefs, perceptions of children in the classrooms and
demographic information online via the Qualtrics platform or
on paper (based on their preference) during the spring semester
of the school year. Paper surveys were converted to digital forms
via a Teleform system. Trained research staff conducted quality
assurance checks of scanned data, conducting a mandatory
visual check of each scanned form for accuracy. In addition,
data were checked to ensure data were all within the potential
observable range for each variable, examined data for consistency
between item and sum or total scores. Children’s classroom peer
experience was collected by trained project staff in the fall and
spring of the year. Children were interviewed in quiet areas of the
hallway by trained research staff and responses were recorded in
accordance with the study protocols.
Data Analysis
To examine whether teachers’ grouping strategies were associated
with changes in children’s peer experience in the classroom,
hierarchical generalized linear models were performed in which
each type of peer social experiences was the dependent variable
predicted by teachers’ grouping strategies. Peer nominations of
friendships and conflicts followed the Poisson distribution. As
children were nested within classrooms (Level 1: child; Level 2:
class), a random effect of intercept was specified in each model.
To examine the gender moderation effect, the interaction of
gender with each grouping strategy was examined.
Missing Data
Due to the non-negligible proportion of missing values (∼25%)
in participants’ demographic information (i.e., IEP, DLL),
additional testing was performed to determine if data were
missing completely at random (MCAR) using Little’s MCAR test.
Aside from IEP and DLL, percentage of missing ranged from
0.2% (gender) to 17.8% (ethnicity). The IEP and DLL variables
were missing at 23 and 26%, respectively. Based on Little’s MCAR
test, the pattern of missingness was not completely at random and
therefore, listwise deletion would not be appropriate (Graham,
2012). We performed multilevel multiple imputation using a
fully conditional specification (FCS) imputation approach in
Blimp (Enders et al., 2018). Variables included in the multiple
imputations were all the study variables as well as auxiliary
variables that were related to missingness (Schafer and Olsen,
1998). Twenty imputed datasets were generated and analyzed
using Proc Glimmix in SAS. Proc Mianalyze was used to
combine statistical results and generate valid statistical inferences
about each parameter.
RESULTS
Exploratory Analyses
Table 1 presents the child-level descriptive statistics of the
variables used in the current study. On average, children received
1.01 nomination from classmates for engaging in peer conflicts at
the beginning of the academic year. The number of nominations
increased to 1.64 at the end of the year. Children’s friendship
nomination was 2.93 on average at the beginning of the year
and decreased to 2.79 at the end of the year. Paired t-tests based
on the imputed data set showed that children were perceived by
peers as being more aggressive in the spring compared to that in
the fall (t = 3.11, p < 0.01). Meanwhile, children received fewer
friendship nominations in the spring than in the fall (t = −2.73,
p < 0.01).
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to
explore if the patterns of change differed by children’s gender.
The conflict nominations received by children at the beginning of
the year were 1.49 for boys, and 0.56 for girls, and this difference
was statistically significant [t = 10.10, p < 0.001]. At the end
of the academic year, boys continued to receive more physical
aggression nominations than girls [Mboy = 1.65, Mgirl = 0.70;
t = 9.07, p < 0.001]. Children’s friendship showed the opposite
trend. Girls received more friendship nominations than boys
in the fall [Mboy = 2.83, Mgirl = 3.04; t = −1.98, p < 0.05],
but this difference was not statistically significant in the spring
[Mboy = 2.71, Mgirl = 2.87; t = −1.49, p < 0.14].
Among the 79 teachers, 89.9% answered ‘yes’ to a survey
question about whether they created a seating chart in the
classrooms (the other 10.1% did not respond to this question);
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TABLE 1 | Child-related descriptive analysis.
% Missing % Min Max Mean SD
Gender (0 = Boys, 1 = Girls) 0.2 51.1 0.0 1.0
Age in years 0.3 4.3 9.5 6.79 1.22
Ethnicity 17.8
White 61.4
Black 4.5
Asian 8.5
Other 2.0
Multi-racial 6.2
Grade 0.0 0.0 4.0
Kindergarten 42.9
Grade 1 18.1
Grade 2 22.3
Grade 3 16.7
IEP (0 = No, 1 = Yes) 23.0 10.1 0.0 1.0
DLL (0 = No, 1 = Yes) 25.8 20.0 0.0 1.0
Maternal Education 17.6 0.0 4.0
high school 17.8
associate 9.4
bachelor’s 28.2
Graduate or professional 23.6
Peer social experiences
Peer conflicts (fall) 1.6 0.0 13 1.01 1.80
Friendship (fall) 1.6 0.0 13 2.96 2.03
Peer conflicts (spring) 0.0 0.0 14 1.16 2.06
Friendship (spring) 0.0 0.0 11 2.79 2.02
IEP, individualized education plan; DLL, dual language learner.
88.6% teachers answered ‘yes’ to a survey question about whether Teacher-Reported Importance of Reinforcing existing friendship was moderately correlated TABLE 2 | Descriptive of teachers’ grouping strategies.
Mean SD 1. 2. 3. 4.
1. Existing Friendship 0.61 0.52
2. New Friendship 1.17 0.50 0.35**
3. Homogeneous Ability Grouping 1.20 0.49 0.34** 0.24*
4. Heterogeneous Ability Grouping 1.42 0.41 0.23* 0.17 0.31**
5. Behavioral Problems 1.91 0.26 0.07 0.09 0.14 0.06
**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
all of the correlations were positive, suggesting that teachers Teachers’ Grouping Strategies and Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 6 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 7
Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies TABLE 3 | Predicting changes in peer conflicts by teachers’ grouping strategies.
Peer Conflicts
b Exp(b) SE t 95% CI
Intercept 1.66*** 5.26 0.45 3.65 [0.77, 2.55]
Gender (0 = Boys, 1 = Girls) −0.56*** 0.57 0.06 −10.07 [−0.67, −0.45]
IEP (0 = No, 1 = Yes) 0.01 1.01 0.11 0.12 [−0.20, 0.23]
DLL (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.10 0.90 0.12 −0.82 [−0.33, 0.14]
Grade 1 0.20 1.22 0.12 1.63 [−0.04, 0.43]
Grade 2 0.14 1.15 0.12 1.19 [−0.09, 0.37]
Grade 3 −0.04 0.96 0.13 −0.29 [−0.29, 0.21]
Maternal Education −0.04 0.96 0.03 −1.13 [−0.11, 0.03]
Peer conflict pre-test (Fall) 0.14*** 1.15 0.01 21.8 [0.12, 0.15]
Teacher experience −0.00 1.00 0.01 −0.52 [−0.01, 0.01]
Teacher efficacy −0.21* 0.81 0.10 −2.17 [−0.40, −0.02]
Grouping Strategies Existing Friendship −0.03 0.97 0.08 −0.38 [−0.19, 0.12]
New Friendship 0.05 0.95 0.08 0.62 [−0.11, 0.21]
Homogeneous Ability 0.01 1.01 0.09 0.11 [−0.17, 0.19]
Heterogeneous Ability −0.03 0.97 0.11 −0.30 [−0.25, 0.18]
Behavioral Problem −0.05 0.95 0.14 −0.34 [−0.33, 0.23]
The reference group of Grade was Kindergarten; IEP, individualized education plan; DLL, dual language learner; Maternal education (1 = Higher than an associate degree; of conflicts than boys [b = −0.56, exp(b) = 0.57, SE = 0.06, Table 4 demonstrates the fixed effects of teachers’ grouping Gender Effects in the Relationship Table 6 shows a negative main effect of heterogeneous ability DISCUSSION
This study sought to deepen our understanding of teachers’ Consistent with Gest and Rodkin’s (2011) findings, teachers Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 7 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 8
Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies TABLE 4 | Predicting changes in friendships by teachers’ grouping strategies.
Friendships
b Exp(b) SE t 95% CI Intercept 1.31*** 3.71 0.31 4.22 [0.70, 1.93]
Gender (0 = Boys, 1 = Girls) 0.02 1.02 0.03 0.47 [−0.05, 0.08]
IEP (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.23** 0.79 0.08 −2.75 [−0.40, −0.06]
DLL (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.09 0.91 0.06 −1.59 [−0.20, 0.02]
Grade 1 0.03 1.03 0.08 0.39 [−0.12, 0.18]
Grade 2 0.02 1.02 0.07 0.31 [−0.12, 0.17]
Grade 3 −0.12 0.89 0.08 −1.46 [−0.27, 0.04]
Maternal Education 0.02 1.02 0.02 0.84 [−0.02, 0.06]
Friendship pre-test (Fall) 0.13*** 1.14 0.01 13.91 [0.11, 0.15]
Teacher experience 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.06 [−0.00, 0.01]
Teacher efficacy −0.10 0.90 0.06 −1.56 [−0.23, 0.03]
Grouping Strategies Existing Friendship 0.02 1.02 0.05 0.30 [−0.09, 0.12]
New Friendship 0.06 1.06 0.05 1.07 [−0.05, 0.16]
Homogeneous Ability 0.03 1.03 0.06 0.59 [−0.08, 0.15]
Heterogeneous Ability −0.14* 0.87 0.07 −1.98 [−0.27, −0.00]
Behavioral Problem −0.01 0.99 0.09 −0.06 [−0.19, 0.18]
The reference group of Grade was Kindergarten; IEP, individualized education plan; DLL, dual language learner; Maternal education (1 = Higher than an associate degree; TABLE 5 | Interactive effects of gender and teachers’ grouping strategies on changes in peer conflicts across the academic year.
Peer Conflicts b Exp(b) SE t 95% CI Intercept 1.66*** 5.26 0.48 3.47 [0.72, 2.59]
Gender (0 = Boys, 1 = Girls) −0.55 0.58 0.43 −1.29 [−0.14, 0.28]
IEP (0 = No, 1 = Yes) 0.02 1.02 0.11 0.20 [−0.19, 0.24]
DLL (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.10 0.90 0.12 −0.86 [−0.34, 0.14]
Grade 1 0.20 1.22 0.12 1.64 [−0.04, 0.44]
Grade 2 0.14 1.15 0.12 1.15 [−0.10, 0.37]
Grade 3 −0.04 0.96 0.13 −0.28 [−0.29, 0.22]
Maternal Education −0.04 0.96 0.04 −1.07 [−0.11, 0.03]
Peer conflict pre-test (Fall) 0.14*** 1.15 0.01 21.76 [0.12, 0.15]
Teacher experience −0.00 1.00 0.01 −0.51 [−0.01, 0.01]
Teacher efficacy −0.21* 0.81 0.10 −2.19 [−0.41, −0.02]
Grouping Strategies Existing Friendship −0.07 0.93 0.09 −0.79 [−0.24, 0.10]
New Friendship 0.11 1.12 0.09 1.23 [−0.07, 0.28]
Homogeneous Ability −0.02 0.98 0.10 −0.19 [−0.22, 0.18]
Heterogeneous Ability 0.06 1.06 0.12 0.52 [−0.17, 0.29]
Behavioral Problem −0.12 0.89 0.16 −0.75 [−0.43, 0.19]
Gender × Grouping Strategies
Gender × Existing Friendship 0.13 1.14 0.11 1.14 [−0.09, 0.35]
Gender × New Friendship −0.21 0.81 0.11 −1.87 [−0.43, 0.01]
Gender × Homogeneous Ability 0.09 1.09 0.12 0.73 [−0.15, 0.33]
Gender × Heterogeneous Ability −0.30* 0.74 0.15 −2.06 [−0.59, −0.01]
Gender × Behavioral Problem 0.25 1.28 0.21 1.20 [−0.16, 0.65]
The reference group of Grade was Kindergarten; IEP, individualized education plan; DLL, dual language learner; Maternal education (1 = Higher than an associate degree; Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 8 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 9
Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies TABLE 6 | Interactive effects of gender and teachers’ grouping strategies on changes in friendships across the academic year.
Friendships b Exp(b) SE t 95% CI Intercept 1.38*** 3.97 0.34 4.04 [0.71, 2.05]
Gender (0 = Boys, 1 = Girls) −0.14 0.87 0.25 −0.58 [−0.63, 0.34]
IEP (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.23** 0.79 0.08 −2.75 [−0.40, −0.06] DLL (0 = No, 1 = Yes) −0.09 0.91 0.06 −1.59 [−0.20, 0.02] Grade 1 0.03 1.03 0.08 0.37 [−0.12, 0.18]
Grade 2 0.02 1.02 0.07 0.31 [−0.12, 0.17] Grade 3 −0.12 0.89 0.08 −1.48 [−0.28, 0.04]
Maternal Education 0.02 1.02 0.02 0.90 [−0.02, 0.06]
Friendship pre-test (Fall) 0.13*** 1.14 0.01 13.95 [0.11, 0.15]
Teacher experience 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.07 [−0.00, 0.01]
Teacher efficacy −0.10 0.90 0.06 −1.51 [−0.22, 0.03]
Grouping Strategies Existing Friendship 0.02 1.02 0.06 0.32 [−0.11, 0.15]
New Friendship 0.07 1.07 0.06 1.14 [−0.05, 0.20]
Homogeneous Ability 0.10 1.11 0.07 1.46 [−0.03, 0.24]
Heterogeneous Ability −0.21* 0.81 0.08 −2.48 [−0.37, −0.04]
Behavioral Problem −0.05 0.95 0.12 −0.44 [−0.28, 0.18]
Gender × Grouping Strategies Gender × Existing Friendship −0.01 0.99 0.07 −0.12 [−0.15, 0.13]
Gender × New Friendship −0.03 0.97 0.06 −0.54 [−0.16, 0.09]
Gender × Homogeneous Ability −0.13 0.88 0.07 −1.74 [−0.27, 0.02]
Gender × Heterogeneous Ability 0.13 1.14 0.08 1.54 [−0.04, 0.30]
Gender × Behavioral Problem 0.09 1.09 0.12 0.79 [−0.14, 0.33]
The reference group of Grade was Kindergarten; IEP, individualized education plan; DLL, dual language learner; Maternal education (1 = Higher than an associate degree; conflicts via negotiation, Spivak, 2016). Contrary to the positive Another major finding of this study is the negative influence similarity is the prerequisite for friendship building, it might take Consistent with the previous literature (Card et al., 2008; It is surprising that maintaining existing friendships and Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 9 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 10
Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies effects of these relationship-based grouping strategies counter It is important to note that the effects of teachers’ grouping Limitations and Directions for Future Second, the current study measured grouping strategies based Third, in this study we examined children’s friendship CONCLUSION
This study documents changes in young children’s peer social DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be ETHICS STATEMENT
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
SK and T-JL conceptualized the study. SK conducted data Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 10 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles fpsyg-11-587170 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:57 # 11
Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies FUNDING
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Kim et al. Teachers’ Grouping Strategies van den Berg, Y. H., and Cillessen, A. H. (2013). Computerized sociometric and Van den Berg, Y. H., Segers, E., and Cillessen, A. H. (2012). Changing Van der Graaff, J., Branje, S., De Wied, M., Hawk, S., Van Lier, P., and Meeus, Van Leeuwen, K., Meerschaert, T., Bosmans, G., De Medts, L., and Braet, C. (2006). Vartuli, S. (1999). How early childhood teacher beliefs vary across grade level. Early Watson, S. B. (2006). Novice science teachers: expectations and experiences. J. Sci. Webb, N. M. (1989). Peer interaction and learning in small groups. Int. J. Educ. Res. West, J., Denton, K., and Reaney, L. M. (2001). The Kindergarten Year: Findings Wilkinson, I. A. G., Soter, A. O., and Murphy, P. K. (2010). “Developing a Wilkinson, L. C. (1989). Grouping children for learn- ing: implications for Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the Copyright © 2020 Kim, Lin, Chen, Logan, Purtell and Justice. This is an open-access Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 14 December 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587170 https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025412463508 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9567-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9567-6 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034325 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034325 https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.22.3.189 https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.22.3.189 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0885-2006(99)00026-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-006-9010-y https://doi.org/10.1016/0883-0355(89)90014-1 https://doi.org/10.2307/1167364 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology https://www.frontiersin.org/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articles Introduction Literature Review Peer Social Experiences in Early Childhood Classrooms Teachers’ Grouping Strategies and Children’s Peer Social Experiences Gender Effects in Peer Social Experiences The Current Study Materials and Methods Participants Measure Peer Social Experiences Teachers’ Grouping Strategies Procedure Data Analysis Missing Data Results Exploratory Analyses Teacher-Reported Importance of Grouping Strategies Teachers’ Grouping Strategies and Children’s Peer Social Experiences Gender Effects in the Relationship Between Teachers’ Grouping Strategies and Peer Social Experiences Discussion Limitations and Directions for Future Research Conclusion Data Availability Statement Ethics Statement Author Contributions Funding References
Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal (2024) 41:427– 439 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-022-00866-0
(Ben-Arieh, 2012; Dinisman et al., 2015). For example, Subjective wellbeing (SWB), defined as “a person’s cogni-
Patrice Forrester 1 School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore, Abstract Keywords Life satisfaction · Subjective wellbeing · Family · Peers · Neighborhood
Accepted: 29 June 2022 / Published online: 5 August 2022 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Patrice Forrester1 · Ursula Kahric1 · Ericka M. Lewis1 · Theda Rose1
1 3 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8180-454X http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10560-022-00866-0&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2022-8-4 P. Forrester et al.
(Jesperson et al., 2021), and family support (Morgan et al., Child SWB
Exploring SWB from children’s perspectives is important SWB is a multicomponent construct comprised of life The second component of SWB, affect, refers to a range with fathers (Thomassin & Suveg, 2014). Positive affect Socio-Ecological Factors and Child SWB
Human development is a process influenced by multiple Family Structure and Relationships
Family is a key factor in a child’s microsystem that can
1 3
428 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Subjective Wellbeing
were robust predictors of better life satisfaction and lower Family structure, such as whether a child’s parents are Peer Relationships
For children and early adolescents, peer relationships are The impact of peer relationships on wellbeing is not the United States (U.S.) but not in the collectivist-based Neighborhood Quality
Neighborhood is another component of a child’s microsys- Greater neighborhood satisfaction is associated with bet- 1 3 429 P. Forrester et al. student living in the attendance zone), and had schoolwide Procedure
Data were collected using the Children’s Worlds survey, a Data were collected from two elementary schools dur- Current Study
This study applies developmental theories and a strength- Method
Sample
We recruited a purposive sample of 69 students from the 1 3 430 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Subjective Wellbeing options ranged from 0 (do not agree) to 4 (totally agree) Child SWB Variables
Life satisfaction was assessed using a single-item ques- Overall Life Satisfaction. Overall life satisfaction (OLS) Student Life Satisfaction. Student life satisfaction was Personal Wellbeing. Personal wellbeing was mea- All other data collection took place in the schools’ libraries. Measures
Children completed the Children’s Worlds survey. The Socio-Ecological Variables
Family Relationships. Four items assessed connection Peer Relationships. Four items assessed the quality Neighborhood Quality. Neighborhood quality was 1 3 431 P. Forrester et al. outliers. There was little to no multicollinearity given all domain-specific Personal Wellbeing Index-School Children Core Affect. Core affect was measured using two items Analysis Plan
All analyses were conducted using SPSS Statistics version Table 1 Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients for Socio-ecological Variables and Wellbeing Outcomes 1. Family — 0.32** 0.17 0.57 0.14 0.43 0.32** Table 2 Multiple Linear Regression Results for OLS Table 3 Multiple Linear Regression Results for PWI Table 4 Multiple Linear Regression Results for SLSS 1 3 432 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Subjective Wellbeing number of tests (r/4) to obtain a rank ratio. The rank ratio Note. Assume FDR = 0.05. FDR = false discovery rate; Results
The sample of 69 students included 3rd (n = 40) and 5th grad- Bivariate analyses
Family relationships were significantly associated with Regression analyses
All regression models testing independent predictors with We expected that better family relationships would be For each regression, semi-partial correlations for statisti- Table 5 Multiple Linear Regression Results for Core Affect Table 6 Benjamini-Hochberg FDR Adjustment for Multiple Regres- by p ratio Sig- Family relation- 0.000 1 0.25 0.013 Yes
Personal 0.002 2 0.50 0.025 Yes
Student life 0.072 3 0.75 0.038 No
Core affect 0.365 4 1.00 0.050 No 0.479 1 0.25 0.013 No
Personal 0.630 2 0.50 0.025 No
Student life 0.844 3 0.75 0.038 No
Core affect 0.949 4 1.00 0.050 No 0.000 1 0.25 0.013 Yes Personal 0.022 2 0.50 0.025 Yes
Student life 0.042 3 0.75 0.038 No
Core affect 0.831 4 1.00 0.050 No
1 3 433 P. Forrester et al. Neighborhood quality had no statistically significant asso- Discussion
This study drew from prominent theories of child and eco- Family Relationships
Our study findings suggest that higher perceived family Concomitantly, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems p < .001, ΔR2 = 0.29). The value of r2 denotes that 32% of
the variance in overall life satisfaction can be explained by
all socio-ecological variables. A 28.84% change in vari-
ance in overall life satisfaction was accounted for uniquely
by family relationships independent of the effects of other
socio-ecological variables. Children who reported greater
satisfaction and connection with their family also expe-
rienced much greater satisfaction with their life overall.
Results revealed a statistically significant positive associa-
tion between family relationships and personal wellbeing
(B = 0.27, p = .00, ΔR2 = 0.13). A 23% change in variance
in personal wellbeing was explained by all socio-ecologi-
cal variables. Family relationships uniquely accounted for
12.67% of the variance in personal wellbeing independent
of the effects of other socio-ecological variables. More than
half of the change in variance in personal wellbeing was
attributed to family relationships. Children in this sample
who reported better family relationships had higher satisfac-
tion with important aspects of their personal lives, such as
time usage, health, or safety. Family relationships had no
statistically significant association with either student life
satisfaction or core affect.
We also expected that stronger peer relationships would Finally, we expected that there would be positive associa- 1 3 434 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Subjective Wellbeing development for children in middle childhood and Bronfen- Results are consistent with prior research elucidating the Limitations and Future Research
The present study represents a contribution to an area that with family overall. Previous studies have shown that both Peer Relationships Our findings indicated no statistically significant associa- Neighborhood Quality The results from our study regarding neighborhood qual- 1 3 435 P. Forrester et al. urban environments) view the relative importance of certain Our study findings suggest that positive relationships High satisfaction with neighborhood quality was also limits directionality and precludes causal inferences. Mul- To address these limitations, future studies should Implications for Social Work
We have much to learn about the factors contributing to 1 3 436 Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Influences on Urban Children’s Subjective Wellbeing https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-011-9119-1. Subjective indica- Casas, F., & Rees, G. (2015). Measures of children’s subjective well- Children’s Worlds. (n.d.). International Survey of Children’s Well- Cohen, J., & Cohen, J. (Eds.). (2003). Applied multiple regression/cor- Cummins, R. A., & Lau, A. (2005). Personal Wellbeing Index–School Cummins, R. A., Stokes, M. A., & Davern, M. T. (2007). Core affect Diener, E., Sapyta, J. J., & Suh, E. (1998). Subjective well-being is Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Oishi, S. (2002). Subjective well-being: Diener, E., Pressman, S. D., Hunter, J., & Delgadillo-Chase, D. (2017). Dinisman, T., Fernandes, L., & Main, G. (2015). Findings from the Eccles, J. S. (1999). The development of children ages 6 to 14. The Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W.W Norton complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, García-Hermoso, A., Hormazábal-Aguayo, I., Fernández-Vergara, O., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.03.001 relation of child subjective well-being to rural, urban, and periph- Grusec, J. E. (2011). Socialization processes in the family: Social and Hall, J. C. (2008). The impact of kin and fictive kin relationships Huebner, E. S. (1991a). Initial development of the Students’ Life Satis- Huebner, E. S. (1991b). Further validation of the Students’ Life Satis- Acknowledgements We would like to thank Social Work Community Declarations
Conflict of Interest We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
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All Rights Abstract Child SWB Socio-Ecological Factors and Child SWB Family Structure and Relationships Peer Relationships Neighborhood Quality Current Study Method Sample Procedure Measures Socio-Ecological Variables Child SWB Variables Analysis Plan Results Bivariate analyses Regression analyses Discussion Family Relationships Limitations and Future Research Implications for Social Work References
they let students work in small groups (the other 11.4% did not
respond to this question).
Grouping Strategies
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics and the correlations
between teachers’ grouping strategies based on teachers’ reports.
In response to the first research question, teachers rated
separating behavioral problems as most important (M = 1.91 out
of the maximum value of 2.00), followed by heterogeneous ability
grouping (M = 1.42) and homogeneous grouping (M = 1.20).
On average, teachers regarded reinforcing existing friendships the
least important (M = 0.61). Promoting new friendships was rated
slightly higher than reinforcing existing friendships (M = 1.17).
with promoting new friendships (r = 0.35), homogeneously
ability grouping (r = 0.34), and heterogeneous ability grouping
(r = 0.23). Promoting new friendships was moderately correlated
with homogeneous ability grouping (r = 0.24). Homogeneous
ability grouping was moderately correlated with heterogeneous
ability grouping (r = 0.31). Teacher rating of separating students
with behavioral problems was not significantly correlated with
any other grouping strategies, which indicates that this grouping
strategy is distinct from any other grouping strategies. Overall,
who perceived one grouping strategy as important were likely to
consider another grouping strategy as important as they created
seating charts or assigned groups.
Children’s Peer Social Experiences
Table 3 presents fixed effects of teachers’ grouping strategies
on children’s conflicts based on the imputed data. None of the
grouping strategies significantly predicted changes in children’s
conflicts over the academic year, after controlling for children’s
demographic characteristics, years of teaching, and teachers’ self-
efficacy for managing peer relationships. Gender was found to
significantly predict children’s conflicts: Girls had lower levels
0 = otherwise). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
p < 0.001]. Higher teacher self-efficacy for managing children’s
peer relationships was associated lower peer conflicts [b = −0.21,
exp(b) = 0.81, SE = 0.10, p < 0.05].
strategies on children’s friendships. After controlling for the
covariates, heterogeneous ability grouping negatively predicted
children’s friendships [b = −0.14, exp(b) = 0.87, SE = 0.07,
p < 0.05]. Keeping everything else constant, with one unit of
increase in teacher-reported importance of heterogeneous ability
grouping, children’s friendship nominations would decrease by
13%. Children who were in IEP showed lower levels of friendships
than typically developing children [b = −0.23, exp(b) = 0.79,
SE = 0.08, p < 0.01].
Between Teachers’ Grouping Strategies
and Peer Social Experiences
As shown in Table 5, children’s gender was found to interact with
heterogeneous ability grouping in predicting children’s conflicts
[b = −0.30, exp(b) = 0.74, SE = 0.15, p < 0.05]. Specifically,
heterogeneous ability grouping strategies negatively lowered girls’
conflicts but not boys’. The effect of teacher-efficacy for managing
children’s peer relationships remained significant [b = −0.21,
exp(b) = 0.81, SE = 0.10, p < 0.05].
grouping on changes in children’s friendships [b = −0.21,
exp(b) = 0.81, SE = 0.08, p < 0.05]. None of the other interaction
effects was significant. The effect of IEP remained significant [b =
−0.23, exp(b) = 0.79, SE = 0.08, p < 0.01].
grouping strategies and their roles in children’s peer social
experiences in early elementary classrooms. Based on classroom
peers’ observations, children in this study experienced a
decreasing trend of friendship development and an increasing
rate of peer conflicts across the academic year. Changes in
these peer social experiences were predicted by teacher-reported
importance of heterogeneous ability grouping. Specifically,
children experienced greater loss in friendships in the classroom
if their teachers viewed heterogeneous ability grouping as an
important grouping strategy. Contrary to its negative influence
on friendship development, teacher-reported importance of
heterogeneous ability grouping was found to alleviate girls’ but
not boys’ peer conflicts. Overall, our findings partially support
the hypothesis that teachers can mediate children’s peer social
experiences through various grouping strategies. The social
impacts of grouping strategies seem to operate in more indirect
and implicit ways.
in this study reported viewing strategies for separating students
with behavior problems as more important than ability grouping
or strategies for forming existing or new friendships strategies
when they create seating charts or form small groups. This
finding is also aligned with the conflict intervention literature
showing that early childhood teachers tend to intervene in
peer conflicts mainly when the conflicts escalate (Myrtil et al.,
unpublished); when the teachers intervene, they tend to use
more cessation strategies (e.g., directly separating conflict peers)
than mediation strategies (e.g., guiding students to resolve
0 = otherwise). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
0 = otherwise). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
0 = otherwise). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
association between separating behavioral problems and peer
liking documented in Gest and Rodkin’s study with first, third,
and fifth grade students, separating behavioral problems did not
predict changes in children’s friendships or peer conflicts in
our study. This seems to suggest that early elementary teachers
tend to base their grouping decisions on children’s overt, salient
characteristics. Teachers’ attunement to children’s behavioral
problems may be at the expense of other factors might be
more directly linked to children’s peer social experiences. The
non-significant associations between the separating behavioral
problems strategy and the other grouping strategies support
this explanation.
of teacher-reported heterogeneous ability grouping on children’s
friendship development. A rich body of social network research
has documented that children tend to befriends peers with
whom they share similar characteristics, such as gender, age,
or ability levels, called the homophily phenomenon (Brechwald
and Prinstein, 2011; Hafen et al., 2011; Ojanen et al., 2013).
By assigning children of diverse ability into the same groups,
which also means to break similar peers apart, teachers might
be working against children’s tendency to form homophily in
their friendship networks. The friendship literature suggests
that similarity is what contributes to the sense of security and
intimacy between friends (Newcomb and Bagwell, 1995). If
mixed-ability dyads longer to develop some level of similarity
than same-ability dyads before they form friendships with each
other. Same-ability dyads who were already friends might also
have fewer opportunities to interact in the classroom due to
the heterogeneous grouping practice, which might cause their
friendship relationships to be weakened over time.
Sebanc et al., 2007; Underwood, 2007), boys showed a greater
tendency than girls to engage in peer conflicts, whereas girls were
likely to have more friends than boys. Moreover, a significant
gender moderation effect was found in the relation between
teachers’ heterogeneous ability grouping and children’s peer
conflicts. Girls were found to engage in fewer peer conflicts if
their teachers highly valued the heterogeneous ability grouping
strategy, whereas boys’ experience with peer conflicts did not
seem to be affected by this grouping strategy. Working with a
diverse group of peers might require more advanced social skills
(e.g., such as perspective taking, negotiation, or prosocial skills)
than working with same-ability groups. Girls may already have
possessed more social skills than boys (Van der Graaff et al., 2014;
Jenkins and Nickerson, 2019) to avoid unconstructive conflicts
with their peers.
forming new friendships did not show significant effects on
changes in children’s friendships or peer conflicts. The null
against the physical proximity assumption (Homan, 1974) that
children who are seated next to each other or work in the
same group can know each other better, which then facilitate
relationship building. One possible explanation is that teachers
did not consider these grouping strategies important (see Table 2)
and therefore did not utilize these strategies frequently enough
to make an impact on children’s peer social experiences in the
classroom. Alternatively, our finding might suggest that the link
between physical proximity and relationship building may not be
linear. The literature of seating charts supports this conjecture. It
has shown that by placing children with a negative relationship
in closer proximity for an extended period of time, even though
rejected children became more liked by their peers (Van den
Berg et al., 2012), the intervention classroom exhibited more
aggression and less cooperation among classmates than their
control counterparts (Braun et al., 2020). Future research should
further examine other factors that may potentially alter the
direction of influence of physical proximity, such as children’s
characteristics, social climate, and different types of relationships.
strategies were examined by controlling for teachers’ self-efficacy
for managing peer relationships. Ryan et al. (2015) showed
that teachers with higher self-efficacy for creating a positive
social climate, facilitating students’ friendship, and handling
social problems were more likely to provide better instructional
supports for students. Controlling for individual difference in
managing peer relationships allows us to be more precise about
identifying the social impacts of teachers’ grouping strategies.
Research
Despite the significance of the current study, we acknowledge
several study limitations. First, teachers’ attitude toward grouping
strategies might be in part contingent on the salience of
child characteristics associated with those grouping strategies.
For example, behavioral problems are highly noticeable than
children’s friendship patterns, and many teachers have shown
a poor understanding of their children’s friendship patterns in
classrooms (Gest, 2006; Pearl et al., 2007). This may explain why
teachers rated the separating behavioral problems strategy higher
than the friendship building strategies. Qualitative or mixed
methods approaches can be implemented in the future to further
understand teacher beliefs of these grouping strategies.
on teachers’ report instead of their actual grouping practices
in the classroom. It is possible that even if teachers rated high
on a grouping strategy, this rating may or may not be in
alignment with their actual grouping practices. We chose to rely
on teacher report in part because of the methodological challenge
in observing teachers’ actual grouping practices in relation to
their knowledge of children’s behavioral problems, ability level,
and particularly existing relationships. However, future efforts
in this area should continue to explore valid approaches to
examining the connections between teachers’ attitude toward
grouping strategies and their actual grouping practices.
development based on the number of peer nominations that a
child received. In this way, children’s friendship patterns were
measured by perceptions from their classroom peers, which
assured some level of reliability and objectivity. However, we
acknowledge that other dimensions of friendship relationships
can be equally important and deserve future inquiry, such as
reciprocal vs. unilateral friendships and friendship quantity vs.
quality. Finally, our findings on the gender moderation effect
are largely exploratory without a priori theoretical hypotheses.
Our main focus was to identify possible gender differences
in the relationship between teachers’ grouping strategies and
peer social experiences, which we anticipate will set the stage
for future inquiry.
experiences in early elementary classrooms, reveals how these
changes are related to teachers’ grouping strategies, and explores
whether these grouping strategies differentially mediate the social
experiences of girls and boys. Since the pioneering research
of teacher’s grouping strategies conducted by Gest and Rodkin
(2011) in first, third, and fifth grade classrooms, the current study
is the first endeavor to extend the literature on younger children’s
peer social experiences (kindergarten to third grade), and is the
first study that explores gender moderation of teacher influence.
Overall, our findings show more differences than similarities with
Gest and Rodkin’s pioneering work, which may indicate that
teacher’s influence on children’s peer social experiences changes
along the trajectory of children’s social development.
made available by the authors upon request.
approved by The Ohio State University. Written informed
consent to participate in this study was provided by the
participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.
management, analyses, literature review, and writing. T-JL
contributed to writing and guided SK on data analyses and
literature review. JC and JL contributed to data management
and statistical analysis. KP, LJ, and JC provided critical review of
the manuscript. LJ, T-JL, and KP acquired the financial support
for the project leading to this publication. All authors read and
approved the submitted version of the manuscript.
for Education Sciences, through grant R305N160024
opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not
represent views of the Institute or National Center for
Education Research.
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absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
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Smith et al.(2020) found that average or high SWB were
associated with greater classroom and teacher-student sup-
port as well as higher emotional and behavioral student
engagement among children. A focus on SWB diverts from
traditional research approaches that examine sources of
maladjustment, to focus on factors associated with positive
child developmental trajectories (Ben-Arieh, 2012; Casas
et al., 2012; Lippman, 2007). However, there is a dearth
of literature exploring SWB among urban youth (e.g.,
McCullough et al., 2000; Vera et al., 2008). Indeed, the pre-
dominant discourse in research on urban children has been
a deficit perspective focused on psychopathology and risks
associated with living in particular urban areas such as less
access to resources, poverty, and violence (Jain & Cohen,
2013; Boutte, 2012; Welsh & Swain, 2020). Neighborhood
poverty, for example, has been associated with adverse child
outcomes such as poor mental health (Hurd et al., 2013)
and anti-social behavior (Odges et al., 2012). Neverthe-
less, there are often resources in urban environments, like
neighborhood satisfaction (Shin et al., 2010), social capital
tive and affective evaluations of his or her life” (Diener et
al., 2002, p. 63), is considered an essential component of
an individual’s quality of life and overall wellbeing across
the life course (Ben-Arieh et al., 2014; Bradshaw & Rich-
ardson, 2009; Diener et al., 1998). The majority of SWB
research has centered on adults, finding that SWB is associ-
ated with positive outcomes including better physical health
and health behavior (e.g., Diener et al., 2017; Kushlev et
al., 2020; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). SWB has also been
associated with positive perceptions of school connected-
ness (Suldo et al., 2008) and lower psychopathology (Athay
et al., 2012; Keyes, 2006). Emerging evidence suggests
that child SWB is not only a source of positive develop-
ment, but can also serve as a buffer for adverse outcomes
patricecarolyn@gmail.com
525 West Redwood St, 21201 Baltimore, MD, USA
Purpose Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is a significant contributor to quality of life and overall wellbeing in childhood
through adulthood. However, less is known about the modifiable factors that support SWB among urban children. This study
explored the association between socio-ecological factors (family, peers, and neighborhood) and child SWB.
Method A convenience sample of 69 students were recruited from the 3rd (n = 40) and 5th (n = 29) grades at two urban ele-
mentary schools in a mid-Atlantic state. The average age for participants was 9.32 (SD = 1.33) and most of the sample identi-
fied as female (60.9%). We expected that better perceived family and peer relationships, and neighborhood quality would be
positively associated with higher child SWB. Regression analyses were conducted by SWB outcome, which included global
and domain-specific life satisfaction (i.e., personal wellbeing), and core affect.
Results Study findings indicated that family relationships were positively associated with overall life satisfaction and per-
sonal wellbeing. Neighborhood quality was also positively associated with student life satisfaction and core affect. Peer
relationships were not associated with any of the SWB outcomes.
Discussion The findings highlight the importance of strengthening a child’s relationships and environment to sustain posi-
tive child SWB.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022
Subjective Wellbeing
2011) that can promote child SWB. Thus, better understand-
ing of factors that support SWB may contribute to overall
healthy child development (Lima & Morais, 2018; Williams
et al., 2020), despite greater vulnerability to potential chal-
lenges (e.g., substandard housing) inherent in some urban
environments (Shin et al., 2010).
for gaining a more accurate and comprehensive understand-
ing of their wellbeing within the context of relationships in
their environment (Ben-Arieh, 2008; Casas, 2011). Chil-
dren’s information about their experiences of SWB makes
them an active participant in the research and can add to
the complementary or alternative interpretations of adults
and researchers who may not be fully aware of all the fac-
tors that contribute to a child’s SWB (e.g., Soffia & Turner
2021). This may be particularly relevant among urban chil-
dren as they identify and potentially clarify strengths and
challenges of their specific environments that may compro-
mise or enhance their SWB (e.g., McCullough et al., 2000),
even as some studies report lower SWB for children living
in urban areas compared to other geographic environments
(e.g., rural; Gross-Manos & Shimoni 2020).
satisfaction and affect (e.g., Diener et al., 1999; Diener
et al., 2002). Life satisfaction includes both global and
domain-specific (e.g., family, school) perceptions about
the quality of one’s life (Diener et al., 1999). Domain-spe-
cific measures of life satisfaction can incorporate multiple
domains [e.g., health, personal safety (Personal Well-being
Index-School Children; Cummins & Lau 2005)] that are
especially important for children and linked to their overall
life satisfaction (e.g., Casas & Rees 2015). Generally, stud-
ies show that higher life satisfaction among children and
youth is associated with positive youth development (Park,
2004, 2005), such as lower substance use (Lew et al., 2019),
better school outcomes (e.g., Ng et al., 2015), better mental
health (Marques et al., 2013), and increased physical activ-
ity (García-Hermoso et al., 2020).
of feelings when reflecting on one’s quality of life (Cum-
mins et al., 2007). Positive affect represents pleasurable
forms of affect such as feelings of gratitude and happiness,
whereas negative affect represents non-pleasurable forms
of affect such as feelings of irritability and sadness (Fred-
rickson & Losada, 2005). Research indicates that reciprocal
positive affect between parent and child is associated with
lower symptoms of child psychopathology, particularly
was also a buffer for poor emotional regulation, whereas
negative affect predicted poor emotional regulation among
children (Uhl et al., 2019). Finally, child positive affect has
been associated with concurrent and later (one year) social
competence (Lengua, 2003). The positive effects of higher
life satisfaction and positive affect on child development
shows the importance of understanding the factors that con-
tribute to child SWB.
factors including family, peer groups, and community in
one’s social ecology (Oberle et al., 2011). Indicators of
healthy child development include child SWB such as high
life satisfaction and positive affect (Newland, 2015). Bron-
frenbrenner’s bio-ecological framework (Bronfrenbrenner
& Ceci, 1994) and Erikson’s stage theory of development
(Erikson,1968) demonstrates the importance of psycho-
logical and social processes in supporting a child’s healthy
development. Supportive relations with family, peers, or
community, can also support a child’s positive adaptation
to their environment and promote a feeling of competency
in the use of their talents and skills (Berzoff, 2011; Erikson,
1968). Furthermore, children inhabit layers of environments
that can influence their development over time (Bronfren-
brenner & Ceci, 1994; Rosa & Tudge 2013). The micro-
system is a child’s immediate environment, which includes
their relationships, roles, and activities (Onwuegbuzie et al.,
2013).
influence SWB. In most cultures, family, particularly care-
giver-child relationships, is the major context where early
socialization takes place (Grusec, 2011). Studies reveal that
family communication and support are significantly related
to SWB for children (Moore et al., 2018). Lawler and col-
leagues also reported that family relationships were most
predictive of life satisfaction for rural children, compared
to peers and neighborhood quality (Lawler et al., 2018).
Though family, peer, and neighborhood factors all have an
impact on wellbeing, family connectedness has been found
to be more strongly associated with wellbeing, including
SWB, over time in children ages 10 to 15 in comparison
to peer and community connectedness (Jose et al., 2012).
This indicates that family may be the most influential factor
for wellbeing for this age group (Jose et al., 2012). Addi-
tionally, studies showed that family self-esteem (i.e., extent
to which they feel accepted by family) and family support
negative affect among early adolescents residing in urban
communities (Morgan et al., 2011; Vera et al., 2008).
together or separated, can impact wellbeing (Bradshaw et
al., 2011). For example, children who describe their family
caregiver structure as a couple were found to have higher
SWB scores compared to adolescents whose family struc-
ture is made up of only a stepparent or lone parent (Brad-
shaw et al., 2011). Fictive kinships can also be important
relationships for youth that can affect wellbeing, especially
for African American youth (Hall, 2008). For African
American self-identified adult children of alcoholics, fictive
kin were defined as an individual who was a regular par-
ticipant at significant life events such as a mentor or coach
throughout their childhood and adolescence (Hall, 2008).
Their fictive kin relationships influenced their psychological
wellbeing through helping promote resilience and forming
relationships with mentors (Hall, 2008). While it has been
well documented that family is essential for the wellbeing
of children, the extent to which family relationships influ-
ence wellbeing can vary amongst cultural groups given that
they may place differing value on the family unit (Stuart &
Jose, 2014).
a component of their microsystem and influential to SWB.
Peer relationships become increasingly influential between
late childhood and middle adolescence. While children in
middle childhood are starting to spend increasingly more
time with their peers, they are still largely influenced by
their parental relationships (Moretti & Peled, 2004). During
early adolescence, as children begin to spend less time at
home and more time in environments such as school with
their peers, their external environment becomes increas-
ingly influential in determining their wellbeing (Oberle et
al., 2011). Specific elements of peer relationships such as
the frequency with which peers interact both in and out of
school, satisfaction with their friends, and the number of
friends they have all impact SWB in children (Lawler et
al., 2017). In line with these findings, Morgan et al., (2011)
found that friend support was positively associated with
positive affect among urban early adolescents.
universal and can differ depending on macrosystems, spe-
cifically whether one’s country of residence is more collec-
tivistic or individualistic (Lawler et al., 2017). For example,
Lawler and colleagues found that positive peer relationships
were significant in predicting life satisfaction amongst 10-to-
12-year-old children in the individualist-based country of
country, South Korea. In addition to life satisfaction, peer
relationships can also influence self-image in children, par-
ticularly as they approach adolescence. For example, New-
land and colleagues (2019) found that the quality of peer
relationships among 9- to14-year-old children had a stron-
ger effect on self-image compared to other SWB measures
(Newland et al., 2019).
tem and becomes increasingly influential during a child’s
development (Ashiabi & O’Neal, 2015). Consistent with the
proverb “it takes a village,” one’s neighbors and neighbor-
hood can be particularly influential on child SWB. Neigh-
borhood can include both positive factors such as sense of
community as well as negative factors such as perceived
neighborhood stress. For example, community participation
and sense of community had a positive direct effect on psy-
chological empowerment (e.g., sense of leadership) among
urban youth of color (Lardier, 2018). Further, the relation-
ship with one’s neighbors can be an important component
of how children view their neighborhood (Jespersen et al.,
2021). Non-kin older neighbors were found to contribute
to improved neighborhood quality of life for children and
enhance children’s social capital, which in turn has implica-
tions for improving children’s wellbeing (Jespersen et al.,
2021).
ter school and overall life satisfaction among urban children
and adolescents (Shin et al., 2010).Patton et al.( 2012) also
reported a significant positive relationship between neigh-
borhood satisfaction and self-esteem for African Ameri-
can males. Conversely, a significant negative relationship
between being afraid while going to and from school with
self-esteem was reported in the same study. Higher self-
reported levels of neighborhood disorder were also asso-
ciated with lower levels of life satisfaction among African
American adolescents (Valois et al., 2020). However, neigh-
borhood (i.e., sense of community, neighborhood condi-
tions) was not a significant predictor of SWB among urban
early adolescents (Morgan et al., 2011). Furthermore, every-
day experiences of discrimination one faces in their neigh-
borhood, such as racial profiling in a store, can negatively
impact wellbeing, specifically in Black children (Seaton
et al., 2010). Experiences of perceived discrimination are
correlated with negative life satisfaction and decreased self-
esteem amongst African American and Caribbean Black
adolescents (Seaton et al., 2010).
Title 1 status (Schools, n.d.). Both schools were also Com-
munity Schools, leveraging strategic partnerships with
other community resources (e.g., organizations, universi-
ties) to support academic achievement, and the overall
health and wellbeing of the child, family, and their com-
munities (Schools, n.d.). According to United States (U.S.)
Census Data, the schools are located in a city that is 62.3%
Black and approximately 5.4% Hispanic/Latino (US Census
Bureau Quick Facts, 2021).
multi-national survey of children’s wellbeing developed to
address a gap in knowledge on wellbeing from children’s
perspectives [see (Children’s Worlds, n.d.) for more infor-
mation about Children’s Worlds]. Elementary schools
that were part of a university-based center at the Principal
Investigator (PI)’s university were approached to determine
potential interest in study participation. For the schools that
volunteered to participate, school principals provided let-
ters of support for the study and school coordinators were
identified at both schools to assist in participant recruitment.
After receiving institutional review board (IRB) approval
at both the PI’s institution and the school district, school
coordinators shared information about the study with eli-
gible students and their respective caregivers in the 3rd and
5th grade at the schools. Caregiver consent and child assent
forms, fully explaining the study and with relevant contact
information, were sent home with interested students. For
one school, a Spanish version of the caregiver consent form
and child assent were included, and that schools’ coordina-
tor served as a translator for the study’s PI as applicable.
Teachers and other school administrators were also briefed
on the survey and research procedures before data collection
by school coordinators.
ing Spring 2018. Surveys were administered in each school
(e.g.,, designated classroom, school library) at a time that
did not infringe on instructional time, exams, major proj-
ects, or significant school events. Consistent with Children’s
Worlds survey administration, separate versions of the sur-
vey were administered to children based on grade level by
the research team. At the time of survey administration,
the researchers re-emphasized to the children that (1) their
responses would be kept confidential; (2) there were no cor-
rect or incorrect answers; (3) their participation is volun-
tary, and they can end participation at any time; and (4) they
can skip any questions they don’t want to answer. For one
school, in one grade, students participated in their classroom.
based perspective to explore the socio-ecological factors
that contribute to positive SWB among urban children.
Though research emphasizes the importance of SWB for
adult and adolescent populations, the literature is still devel-
oping on the critical importance of SWB and the factors that
contribute to positive SWB among urban children. The pres-
ent study sought to fill that gap by exploring the association
between family and peer relationships, neighborhood qual-
ity, and child SWB in one mid-Atlantic state. Specifically,
we examined the extent to which family relationships, peer
relationships, and neighborhood quality predicted higher
SWB among urban elementary school children. Given the
significance of positive family relationships to child SWB
(e.g., Jose et al., 2012; Lawler et al., 2018), we expected
better family relationships to be positively associated with
higher SWB (Hypothesis 1). Similarly, peer relationships
become increasingly important in late childhood (Moretti
& Peled, 2004) and peer relationships have been associated
with aspects of SWB, such as life satisfaction (e.g., Lawler
et al., 2018). Thus, we expected stronger peer relationships
to be positively associated with higher SWB (Hypothesis 2).
Finally, based on the importance of community and neigh-
borhood environments to children (e.g., Ashiabi & O’Neal
2015) and the positive influence of community to better
child outcomes (e.g., Lardier 2018; Shin et al., 2010), we
expected positive associations between better neighborhood
quality and greater SWB (Hypothesis 3). Findings from
the study could inform the development and enhancement
of interventions designed to support SWB among urban
children.
3rd (n = 40) and 5th grades (n = 29) at two urban elemen-
tary schools in one mid-Atlantic state. The average age for
participants was 9.32 years old (SD = 1.33), with most of
the sample identifying as female (60.9%; n = 42). One par-
ticipant did not identify their sex. Race, ethnicity, nor any
other demographic data were collected for the 3rd grade stu-
dents; therefore, no additional demographic data is reported
here to protect confidentiality. However, school district data
revealed that both schools consist of mostly (≥92%) Black
and Latino children (Schools, n.d.). At the time of data col-
lection, both schools served children in pre-kindergarten
to 5th grade, had neighborhood enrollment (i.e., accepted
and items were averaged so that higher mean scores rep-
resent higher neighborhood satisfaction. Cronbach’s alpha
was 0.87.
tion of global life satisfaction, a scale of overall life satis-
faction, and one domain-specific life satisfaction measure.
Core affect was assessed using one positive affect and one
negative affect item. Given the difference in the response
sets for the child SWB variables between 3rd and 5th grade
students, we used the equipercentile method for conversion
(Kolen & Brennan, 2014) of the wider range 5th grade mea-
sure to the narrower range 3rd grade measure. This process
involved identifying the percentiles on each measure, then
graphing 5th grade percentile values against the correspond-
ing 3rd grade percentile values, drawing lines between the
points. The lines acknowledged that not all the values on
each measure are represented in the percentiles. However,
we identified 5th grade values at any point and then found
the 3rd grade value at that point. This approach assumed
linearity between the points. To identify the appropriate 3rd
grade value for a 5th grade core affect scale score of 5, for
example, we found this point on the x-axis and it showed
that the corresponding value on the y-axis, the 3rd grade
value at the same percentile, was 1.
was assessed using a single item question asking partici-
pants about their satisfaction with life as a whole. Response
options ranged from 0 (not at all satisfied) to 4 (totally satis-
fied); higher scores reflected greater life-satisfaction.
measured using two items from the Student Life Satisfac-
tion Scale (SLSS; Huebner 1991a) as well as a third item
adapted from Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).
Sample questions included how much participants agree
with the following sentences about their life as a whole:
“my life is going well” and “I have a good life.” Response
options ranged from 0 (I do not agree) to 4 (I totally agree).
Items were averaged so that higher mean scores represent
greater student life satisfaction. Previous studies including
early adolescents reported a test-retest reliability coefficient
after 2 weeks of 0.74 (Huebner, 1991a), and a strong inter-
nal consistency (α = 0.82) (Huebner, 1991b). Convergent
validity with other self-reported life satisfaction measures
including the Perceived Life Satisfaction Scale was r = .58
(Huebner, 1991a). For this study, Cronbach’s alpha was
0.98.
sured using five items from an adapted version of the
The students who were not consented to participate were
given a worksheet. Worksheets and completed surveys were
collected and placed in a manilla envelope. Surveys took
approximately 30–45 minutes to complete. Consent and
assent forms were kept separate from survey responses to
protect confidentiality of study participants. All study docu-
ments were stored in a locked file in the locked office of the
study PI. After data analysis was completed, the research
team prepared a report with group-level deidentified data
and shared with respective schools. The report was intended
to provide a snapshot of current student wellbeing to poten-
tially guide programs, services, and advocacy efforts that
promote SWB among children, particularly in relation to
how SWB can help children succeed in school.
survey measures child wellbeing across multiple domains
of life, including living situation, money and possessions,
relationships, area of residence, school, health, how time is
spent, and the self. The survey has been tested and used by
a wide variety of researchers in countries including Brazil,
England, Germany, Israel, Spain, Canada, South Africa, and
the U.S. For this study, separate scales from the Children’s
Worlds survey were used to assess socio-ecological factors
and children’s SWB.
with and support from one’s family e.g., “how much do you
agree with: there are people in my family who care about
me.” Response options ranged from 0 (do not agree) to 4
(totally agree). Items were averaged so that higher mean
scores represent better family relationships. Cronbach’s
alpha was 0.74.
of one’s friendships e.g., “how much do you agree with:
if I have a problem, I will have a friend to support me.”
Response options ranged from 0 (do not agree) to 4 (totally
agree) and items were averaged so that higher mean scores
represent higher peer satisfaction. Cronbach’s alpha was
0.72.
assessed using five items measuring children’s perceptions
of their local area as well as their relationships with adults in
their local area e.g., “how much do you agree with each of
these sentences about your local area?,” or “In my area there
are enough places to play and have a good time.” Response
variables had a VIF < 10 (Cohen & Cohen, 2003). No out-
liers were observed for study variables as Cook’s distance
values were greater than the absolute value of 1 and all
variables had standard residuals between − 3 and 3. Nor-
mality of residuals, homoscedasticity, and linearity assump-
tions were met for core affect. The OLS, PWI, and SLSS
variables did not meet assumptions for normality of residu-
als, linearity, or homoscedasticity. These variables were
negatively skewed when their residuals were plotted on a
histogram. Thus, the OLS, PWI, and SLSS variables were
squared to address negative skewness. After transforming
the variables, there was improvement in their homoscedas-
ticity, linearity, and normality. However, these variables still
had a slight negative skew. The main results from trans-
formed and untransformed variables did not differ. As such,
results from untransformed OLS, SLSS, and PWI variables
are reported.
(PWI-SC; Cummins & Lau 2005) e.g., “how satisfied are
you with how you use your time?” Response options ranged
from 0 (not at all satisfied) to 4 (totally satisfied) and items
were averaged so that higher mean scores represent higher
personal wellbeing. In prior child and adolescent samples,
the PWI demonstrated adequate internal reliability (α = 0.83;
Casas & Rees 2015) as well as high inter-item reliability
(α = 0.82) (Tomyn et al., 2013). Compared to the general life
happiness (GLH) single item measure (‘how happy are you
with your life as a whole?’), PWI has demonstrated conver-
gent validity of r = .68 in adolescent samples (Tomyn et al.,
2013). For this sample, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.98.
from the Russell Core Affect Scale (Russell, 2003), with
response options ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (always). Par-
ticipants were asked how often they have felt happy and
sad during the last two weeks, with sad being reverse coded
and both variables averaged so that higher scores indicated
better core affect. Prior adaptations of the scale have dem-
onstrated high reliability (0.87 − 0.93) in a sample of young
adults (Västfjäll et al., 2002). For this study, Cronbach’s
alpha was 0.78.
27 (IBM, 2020). Pearson correlations were conducted to test
associations of age, sex, family relationships, peer relation-
ships, and neighborhood quality with overall life satisfac-
tion, personal wellbeing, student life satisfaction, and core
affect (Table 1). Four multiple regressions were conducted
to examine associations between socio-ecological factors
(family relationships, peer relationships, neighborhood
quality) and each of the child SWB outcomes (overall life
satisfaction, personal wellbeing, student life satisfaction,
and core affect) (Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5). Regression assump-
tion testing was conducted to assess for multicollinearity
between continuous independent and dependent variables,
homogeneity of variances, normality of residuals, and
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. Peer 0.32** — 0.11 0.13 − 0.02 0.17 0.14
3. Neighborhood 0.17 0.11 — 0.16 0.29* 0.30* 0.49
4. OLS 0.57 0.13 0.16 — 0.34** 0.48 0.42**
5. Core Affect 0.14 − 0.02 0.29* 0.34** — 0.19 0.24
6. PWI 0.43 0.17 0.30* 0.48 0.19 — 0.61
7. SLSS 0.32** 0.14 0.49 0.42** 0.24 0.61 —
Note. OLS = Overall life satisfaction; PWI = Personal wellbeing; SLSS = Student life satisfaction
*p < .05. **p < .01. p < .001
Variable B SE β p
Constant 1.78 0.39 — < 0.001
Family 0.52 0.10 0.56 < 0.001
Peer 0.01 0.08 0.01 0.95
Neighborhood 0.02 0.09 0.02 0.83
Note. Model Statistic: r2 = 0.32. F (3, 61) = 9.76, p < .001
Variable B SE β p
Constant 2.20 0.31 — < 0.001
Family 0.27 0.08 0.38 0.00
Peer 0.01 0.07 0.02 0.84
Neighborhood 0.12 0.06 0.23 0.04
Note. Model Statistic: r2 = 0.23. F (3, 65) = 6.62, p = .00
Variable B SE β p
Constant 0.97 0.57 — 0.10
Family 0.27 0.15 0.21 0.07
Peer 0.06 0.12 0.05 0.63
Neighborhood 0.40 0.10 0.43 < 0.001
Note. Model Statistic: r2 = 0.29. F (3, 63) = 8.36, p < .001
was then multiplied by the FDR rate (0.05) for an adjusted p
value (Benjamini & Hochberg, 1995). The original p values
from multiple regression tests were compared to the new
adjusted p values to ascertain if they met the new threshold.
See Table 6 for FDR adjusted p values for each predictor of
interest.
IV = socio-ecological variables.
ers (n = 29). The average age for participants was 9.32 years
old (SD = 1.33), with most participants identifying as female
(60.9%; n = 42). One participant did not identify their sex.
Students had a mean OLS score of 3.62 (SD = 0.74), a mean
PWI score of 3.48 (SD = 0.59), a mean SLSS score of 3.19
(SD = 1.03) and a mean core affect score of 2.05 (SD = 0.74).
overall life satisfaction (r = .56, p < .001), personal wellbe-
ing (r = .43, p < .001), and student life satisfaction (r = .32,
p = .01), but not with core affect. Neighborhood quality was
significantly correlated with personal wellbeing (r = .30,
p = .01), student life satisfaction (r = .49, p < .001), and core
affect (r = .29, p = .02), but not with overall life satisfaction.
No other significant correlations were observed.
dependent variables were significant, except for one. The
first regression model testing the independent predictors
and their relationship with overall life satisfaction was
significant, F (3, 61) = 9.76, p < .001 (Table 2). The second
regression model predicting personal wellbeing was also
significant, F (3, 65) = 6.62, p = .00 (Table 3). The regres-
sion model testing independent predictors and their rela-
tionship with student life satisfaction was also significant,
F (3,63) = 8.36, p < .001 (Table 4). The final regression
model testing independent predictors and their relationship
with core affect was not significant, F (3, 64) = 2.40, p = .08
(Table 5).
positively associated with higher SWB (Hypothesis 1). This
hypothesis was partially supported in this sample. Family
relationships was the only predictor that had a statistically
significant association with overall life satisfaction (B = 0.52,
cally significant predictors were squared to understand the
variable’s unique contribution to the change in variance in
dependent variables. The change in r2 was calculated to
produce the effect size (ΔR2 ) for all statistically significant
findings. The effect size was obtained by determining the
difference between the r2 in the regression model with all
independent variables and the r2 for a model without the
independent variable of interest. To control for the antici-
pated rate of Type 1 error due to multiple concurrent tests, a
Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment
was made (1995). This adjustment allows for greater power
in comparison to the Bonferroni adjustment (Benjamini &
Hochberg, 1995). To make the adjustment, the p values for
each of the 4 multiple regression tests were ranked in order
from least to highest. Then, the rank (r) was divided by the
Variable B SE β p
Constant 1.37 0.42 — 0.00
Family 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.37
Peer − 0.06 0.09 − 0.09 0.48
Neighborhood 0.18 0.08 0.28 0.02
Note. Model Statistic: r2 = 0.10. F (3, 64) = 2.40, p = .08
sion Analyses
Variables Ordered
Rank Rank
Adjusted
signifi-
cance level
nifi-
cant?
ships (IV)
Overall life
satisfaction
wellbeing
satisfaction
Peer relationships
(IV)
Overall life
satisfaction
wellbeing
satisfaction
Neighborhood
quality (IV)
Overall life
satisfaction
wellbeing
satisfaction
ciation with personal wellbeing or overall life satisfaction.
logical development (Bronfrenbrenner & Ceci, 1994; Erik-
son 1968) to explore the association between family and
peer relationships, neighborhood quality, and SWB among
children residing in urban communities. Importantly, the
study utilized children’s perspectives of their SWB, which
is consistent with studies emphasizing children as the best
reporters of their SWB and contributes to a better under-
standing of SWB within varied environmental contexts
(Ben-Arieh, 2008; Casas, 2011). Study findings also build
on emerging literature of SWB among urban children, with
a focus on positive outcomes (e.g., Ben-Arieh 2012). The
study found that family relationships were positively asso-
ciated with overall life satisfaction and personal well-being,
while neighborhood quality was associated with student life
satisfaction and core affect. Surprisingly, peer relationships
were not significantly related to any of the SWB outcomes.
relationship quality is associated with increased life satis-
faction and personal wellbeing among urban elementary
school children. Study findings are consistent with previ-
ous research demonstrating that family relationships are a
key factor in predicting child and youth wellbeing globally
(Lee & Yoo, 2017). Specifically, our results have confirmed
the role perceived positive relationships with family mem-
bers can play on SWB in urban children which align with
prior studies (e.g., Morgan et al., 2011; Vera et al., 2008).
Study participants were in middle childhood, meaning they
were still in the beginning stages of transitioning to spend-
ing more time in school, yet were still heavily influenced
by their family. While a child’s perceived relationship with
their family, specifically parents, becomes less hierarchical
during early adolescence, individuation theory states that
adolescents still need to maintain close relationships with
parents (Schwarz et al., 2012).
theory emphasizes that family is a part of a child’s micro-
system given that it is in their immediate environment and
interacts with other environmental factors influencing devel-
opment (Ashiabi & O’Neal, 2015). Our study questions
included perceptions of both quality of a child’s relationship
with their parents as well as quality of their relationships
be positively associated with higher wellbeing (Hypothesis
2). This hypothesis was not supported in the sample. Peer
relationships were not significantly associated with any
indicators of SWB.
tions between better neighborhood quality and greater SWB
(Hypothesis 3). This hypothesis was partially supported in
this sample. Neighborhood quality was the only predictor
with a statistically significant association with student life
satisfaction (B = 0.40, p < .001, ΔR2 = 0.18). Twenty-nine
percent of the change in variance in student life satisfac-
tion was explained by all socio-ecological variables. Neigh-
borhood quality uniquely accounted for 17.47% of the
variance in student life satisfaction. Neighborhood quality
had a greater contribution to the change in variance in stu-
dent life satisfaction as compared to other socio-ecological
variables. Students who reported greater satisfaction with
their neighborhood reported greater satisfaction with their
academic and social experience at school. Neighborhood
quality was also the only predictor that had a statistically
significant association with core affect (B = 0.18, p = .02,
ΔR2 = 0.08). All socio-ecological variables accounted for
10% of the change in variance in core affect. Neighborhood
quality uniquely accounted for 7.73% of the variance in
core affect. Neighborhood quality contributed the majority
of change in variance in core affect as compared to other
socio-ecological variables. Children who reported higher
neighborhood quality had better core affect; however, the
effect of this association was small, thus had limited impact.
brenner’s ecological systems theory. According to Erikson
(1968), the onset of puberty leads to an increase in indepen-
dence and autonomy, in which children will have increased
interactions within their neighborhood and community. As
puberty typically begins at age 8 in girls and age 9 in boys,
most participants are at the beginning stages of puberty and
are likely increasingly influenced by their neighborhood
interactions and relationships (About Puberty and Preco-
cious Puberty, 2021). Similarly, based on Bronfenbrenner’s
theory, neighborhood is one component of a child’s micro-
system and is increasingly influential during a child’s devel-
opment (Ashiabi & O’Neal, 2015). Taken together, both
theories support our study results.
importance of greater neighborhood satisfaction for life sat-
isfaction among urban children (Shin et al., 2010). The sig-
nificant associations for neighborhood quality may also be,
in part, due to cultural factors of our study population. Mac-
rosystem influences such as whether a community is more
collectivist in nature can lead to increased value in one’s
neighborhood influencing SWB, given a higher reliance on
interdependent microsystems (Lawler et al., 2017). Ethnic
and racial minorities in the U.S. are often more collectivist
in nature due to cultural beliefs and traditions, compared to
European Americans who often identify as more individu-
alistic (Vargas & Kemmelmeier, 2013). Study participants
attended schools that were primarily Black and Latino,
and enrollment in both schools were composed of primar-
ily students from the surrounding neighborhoods where
the schools were located. Since our sample was composed
primarily of students from groups that are more likely to
have collectivist values, this may contribute to our under-
standing about why neighborhood quality was particularly
significant in influencing certain aspects of child wellbeing.
Our results also emphasize the importance of positive adult
relationships for child wellbeing as our inquiry primarily
focused on the quality of relationships children have with
adults in their local area. Beyond immediate family, adults
in a child’s community with whom they feel they can go to
for help can play a crucial role in wellbeing outcomes for
this population.
has received little research attention. Nevertheless, study
findings should be interpreted considering its potential
limitations. First, the sample size was relatively small;
this, combined with convenience sampling, limits gener-
alizability. Second, the cross-sectional nature of the data
family and parental relationships are predictive of subjec-
tive wellbeing in youth (Lawler et al., 2017, 2018; Schwarz
et al., 2012). Parents are only one subset of what one would
often describe as their family composition. Our results
indicate that while parents are important to wellbeing, per-
ceptions of other familial relationships such as those with
siblings or grandparents could also be extremely important
in influencing child wellbeing.
tions between perceptions of the quality of peer relationship
and any of the SWB outcomes. These findings are counter
to most developmental theories for this age group, specifi-
cally Erikson’s theory of development (Erikson, 1968), as
well as previous studies on the influence of peers on youth
wellbeing (Lawler et al., 2017; Newland et al., 2019). How-
ever, our results are consistent with a prior study with urban
early adolescents, where peer support was not associated
with SWB (Vera et al., 2008). Erikson’s theory states that
during middle childhood, children spend less time at home
and under the supervision of their parents, while their social
context expands to include relationships formed in school,
specifically with peers (Erikson, 1968). Once children move
into early adolescence and begin puberty, they start to have
a stronger desire for autonomy from their family and are
increasingly comparing themselves to peers (Eccles, 1999).
Since study participants are at the beginning of puberty and
may not have formally entered adolescence, we can expect
that parents or other family still have a substantial effect on
their wellbeing. At the same time, it is expected that peers
will have some effect on wellbeing for this age group. Exist-
ing literature states that peer relationships have a strong
effect on childhood wellbeing and serve as a predictor across
multiple wellbeing indicators such as life satisfaction and
self-image (Lawler et al., 2017; Lee & Yoo, 2017). Since
the increasing influence from peers and decreasing influ-
ence from parents is a gradual process that occurs across the
developmental lifespan, it is possible that in this study chil-
dren were still at the beginning of the developmental transi-
tion period and the family relationship maintains a primary
influence.
ity are in line with the proverb “it takes a village to raise
a child,” as well as Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
social relationships regarding their SWB. The knowledge
gained from our study can inform practice efforts to support
healthy child development and promote better assessment
of child SWB in urban environments.
with family members increases child SWB. From a prac-
tice perspective, social workers could use interventions that
facilitate positive relationships between urban children and
their families in clinical practice. Social workers working
with parents who have elementary school children could
provide psychoeducation to their clients on how to relate
positively with children (e.g., active listening skills) to
promote their child’s SWB. Social workers with child cli-
ents could also provide psychoeducation to clients’ parents
about building positive relationships with children. Social
workers should also consider facilitating sessions as needed
between school age children, their parents, and other impor-
tant family members in the child’s life to promote positive
relationship development. To grow in their ability to pro-
mote positive family relationships, social workers could
engage in continuing education about interventions with
families, especially if they work with urban children or
parents. Social workers at all levels of practice (e.g., direct
service, management) can also advocate for social service
practices and policies that promote positive relationships
between children and their families within organizations
and the wider community.
found to be a contributor to a child’s SWB, particularly as
it relates to student life satisfaction. Social workers who
engage in practice with elementary school children in urban
environments could assess the level of satisfaction with
neighborhood quality, including children’s sense of safety in
the neighborhood, opportunities for play, and relationships
with adults in the neighborhood. This assessment could pro-
vide information about possible strengths within a child’s
neighborhood that could be utilized to support healthy
child SWB. Social workers could also advocate for policies
that support safe neighborhoods, activities, and neighbor-
hood spaces that interest children such as playgrounds and
child-specific community-based programs. Social workers
who engage in community-level work such as community
organizing could also provide psychoeducation to inter-
ested adult community members regarding best practices
in positive relationships with children. Positive connections
with family and neighborhood were found to be contribu-
tors to child SWB, specifically for children in grades 3 and
5 residing in an urban city. This suggests the importance
of strengthening a child’s relationships and environment to
sustain positive child SWB.
tiple data collection time points would have enabled us to
assess mediating and moderating effects on the relationship
between family/peer relationships and neighborhood qual-
ity on SWB. Third, though the Children’s Worlds Survey
provided a comprehensive assessment of wellbeing among
children, some questions are only asked at certain ages and
the response sets varied from 3rd to 5th grade. Thus, we uti-
lized the equipercentile approach which can be a limitation
because it assumes that percentiles on one measure equate
to percentiles on the other. This approach also assumes lin-
earity between the observed score values.
include a larger sample of urban children, where probability
sampling methods can be employed to enhance generaliz-
ability. A larger sample size would also afford researchers
the ability to explore the influence of age, sex, and race/
ethnicity in the associations between contextual factors and
SWB among urban children. Though relevant to the exami-
nation of SWB, sex and age were not included in the current
study given the small sample size. Race was not collected
across both grades in the study; additional race or ethnic-
ity data would allow for further exploration of whether the
observed associations were conditioned on race/ethnicity.
The collection of data related to the socio-economic sta-
tus of children’s families in future studies could also help
in examining the role of household income on children’s
SWB. Longitudinal studies can be applied to examine
how the association between contextual factors and SWB
may change over time as well as how early family, peer,
and neighborhood relationships can influence later SWB.
Finally, measures that are consistent in response sets for
children would alleviate the need to apply an approach to
analyze data together. SWB has been more recently defined
to include emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing.
These additional reliable and valid measures might provide
a more nuanced understanding of SWB and the factors that
are most critical to promoting SWB among urban children.
positive SWB, specifically among elementary-aged chil-
dren residing in urban communities. Knowledge from the
current study supports the application of developmental
and ecological theories, furthering our understanding of
how microsystems such as family and neighborhood pro-
mote SWB among children within potentially challenging
environments. Study findings also build upon developmen-
tal and ecological theories, exemplifying the importance
of understanding how children in different localities (e.g.,
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