The Relationship between Students’ Psychological Sense of Community in the Classroom, Aggressive Behavior, and Academic Competence

The devastating effects that bullying has on children have been well established through a large number of studies. Fewer studies, however, have focused on trying to understand the factors associated with being a bully. The present study examines the relationship between students' psychological sense of community in the classroom, their self-perceptions, and their aggressive behavior towards others. We examined 74 children (ages 11-14) in a rural school setting in the southeastern U.S. by administering a survey at the end of their academic year. We found that students who reported aggressing toward their classmates had significantly lower psychological sense of community in their classroom and significantly lower sense of academic competence. Moreover, when the type of aggressive behavior was taken into account, we found that low academic competence was significantly associated with higher levels of relational aggression as well as physical aggression. The findings of our study provide important information that can help us understand how to reduce aggressive behavior and bullying in the schools and classrooms. More specifically, our findings suggest thatin addition to helping aggressive children learn how to control aggressive appraisals and behavior-we should also help these children improve their academic performance and scholastic competence and their sense of community in the classroom.