Does being good make the grade? Social behavior and academic competence in middle school.

This study examined relations of prosocial and antisocial classroom behavior to academic achievement, taking into account the possible mediating effects of academically oriented classroom behavior and teachers' preferences for students. Correlational findings based on 423 students in 6th and 7th grade indicated that prosocial and antisocial behavior are related significantly to grade point average and standardized test scores and to teachers'preferences for students and academic behavior. Results from multiple-regression analyses suggested that both types of social behavior are significant, independent predictors of classroom grades, even when academically oriented behavior and teachers' preference for students, IQ, family structure, sex, ethnicity, and days absent from school are taken into account