Views of Catholic Middle School Students on Handling Peer Aggression

Authors

Ishita Khemka, St Johns UniversityFollow
Linda Hickson, Teachers College, Columbia University, New YorkFollow
Lina Gilic, State University of New York at Old WestburyFollow

Abstract

Peer aggression toward peers who are perceived as weaker or different is a widespread problem for middle-school students including those attending Catholic middle schools. Middle school students’ normative beliefs about the acceptability of various types of aggressive behavior influences their own potential involvement in bullying or as bystanders to bullying in school environments. This study examined decision-making preferences of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade girls and boys for how they thought a targeted peer (from a vulnerable group) should handle a situation of physical, verbal, or cyber aggression. Significant gender, grade and type of peer aggression effects were found for the decision making of the middle schoolers, carrying important implications for the design of future school-based bullying prevention programs.

DOI

10.15365/joce.2501062022

First Page

133

Last Page

151

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Khemka, I., Hickson, L., & Gilic, L. (2022). Views of Catholic Middle School Students on Handling Peer Aggression. Journal of Catholic Education. https://doi.org/10.15365/joce.2501062022