Session Information
05 SES 16 A, Symposium: Deviant Behaviour as an Interactive and Contextual Process
Symposium
Contribution
This longitudinal study analyses the prevalence of disruptive behaviour in Luxembourgish and Swiss secondary schools and how this is affected by the attitudinal factor of school alienation towards three distinct domains of schooling: learning, teachers and classmates (see concept of Hascher & Hadjar 2018). Disruptive behaviour in school diverges from social norms in school and leads to conflicts between students, with teachers and impairs classroom and school climate. Schools are powerful learning environments that can foster students’ socio-emotional skills and prosocial behaviour (e.g., Spinrad & Eisenberg, 2009). However, schools can also foster the development of student disruptive behaviour that might be triggered by negative student experiences such as competition, stress, or social exclusion. A general conceptual approach to theorise the role of school alienation in the prevalence of student disruptive behaviour is provided by the Situational Action Theory (SAT; Wikström & Sampson, 2014): School alienation is a negative attitude that functions as frame for the selection of school behaviour. Behavioural alternatives are reduced to typical behavioural patterns that express a distance and dislike of school. Thus, alienated students may show disruptive behavioural patterns to express their resistance to school, to compensate for academic failure, or even in trying to meet the school’s expectations (e.g., cheating to pass a test) rather than considering behaviours that resemble the image of a ‘good pupil’. The sample is based on a non-random selection of secondary schools in Luxembourg and the Swiss Canton of Bern that participated in a three-year panel study from Grade 7 to 9 (LU: 370 students in 35 classrooms; CH: 373 students in 27 classrooms). Measuring school alienation, we employ the School Alienation Scale (SALS; Morinaj et al. 2017) comprising of three dimensions: alienation from learning, teachers, and classmates. Disruptive behaviour in school was measured on the basis of a 19-item self-report instrument introduced by Melzer and Schubarth (2006). Students had to indicate how often they practice behaviours such as cheating, afflicting other students, disturbing lessons or destroying things. Results of structural equation models indicate gender effects on both school alienation and deviance – with male students being more prone to alienation and disruptive behaviour. Immigrant background and social origin as well as the secondary school track only show isolated effects. Summarising the findings, alienation from learning, teachers and classmates shows rather cross-sectional effects on disruptive behaviour: Higher alienation goes along with stronger disruptive behaviour. Longitudinal effects of alienation are rare.
References
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior. Reading: Addison-Wesley. Hascher, T., & Hadjar, A. (2018). School alienation – Theoretical approaches and educational research. Educational Research, 60(2), 171–188. Melzer, W., & Schubarth, W. (2006). Gewalt als soziales Problem an Schulen. Untersuchungsergebnisse und Präventionsstrategien. Opladen: Barbara Budrich. Morinaj, J., Scharf, J., Grecu, A., Hadjar, A., Hascher, T. & Marcin, K. (2017). School Alienation. A Construct Validation Study. Frontline Learning Research, 5(2), 36–59. Spinrad, T. L., & Eisenberg, N. (2009). Empathy, prosocial behavior, and positive development in schools. In R. Gilman, E. S. Huebner, & M. J. Furlong (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in schools (pp. 119–129). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. Wikström, P.‑O. H. (2014). Why Crime Happens. A situational action theory. In G. Manzo (Ed.), Analytical Sociology: actions and networks (pp. 74–94). West Sussex: Wiley.
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