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Across the world, numerous students fall victim to school bullying. Bullying is often caused by a power imbalance between students and, thus, identifying potential sources of power imbalance is an effective way to prevent school bullying. Based on the labeling theory, we expect that being retained can create such a power imbalance and, therefore, increases the likelihood of being bullied. Hence, this study examines the association between grade retention and the self-reported victimisation. Moreover, we investigate the moderating effect of both school- and country retention composition rates on this association, based on the expectation that retainees will be less likely to be bullied in schools and countries with a high amount of other retainees. The contextualised impact of grade retention upon victimisation is assessed by cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA2018 data (25 countries; 8,039 schools; 159,412 students). Overall, our findings indicate that being retained in primary and/or secondary education is associated with victimisation, while the difference between retainees and non-retainees is smaller in countries with a high retention rate. We did not find such a moderation effect at the school level. Implications are discussed.

Across the world, numerous students are being bullied at school. Bullying is often caused by a power imbalance between students. Therefore, identifying potential sources of such a power imbalance can prevent school bullying from happening. Based on the labeling theory, we expect that grade retention can lead to such a power imbalance and, therefore, increase the likelihood of being bullied at school. Hence, this study examines the association between grade retention and self-reported victimisation. We also expect that retainees will be less likely to become a victim of school bullying in schools and countries with a high number of other retainees. If true, this would signal a moderating effect of both school- and country retention composition on the association between grade retention and victimisation. The contextualised impact of grade retention upon victimisation is assessed by cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA2018 data (25 countries; 8,039 schools; 159,412 students). Overall, our findings indicate that being retained in primary and/or secondary education is associated with higher levels of victimisation, while retainees suffer from more victimisation in countries with a low number of other retainees. In contrast to our expectations, however, we did not find such a moderation effect of school retention composition.

We know that grade retention is associated with increased frustration. Hence, it is possible that this impactful experience crystallizes into cynic civic attitudes and less intergroup tolerance. Based on democratic frustration theory, we expect retainees to have less respect for people from other cultures than students who were regularly promoted. Based on comparative reference group theory, moreover, we argue this experience might intensify when there are fewer other retainees around. Therefore, the aforementioned association is contextualized by performing cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA 2018 data (17 countries; 6,010 schools; 122,246 students). Results show that retainees have less respect for people from other cultures than students who were never retained. The negative association was larger in countries with few other retainees, which might be due to social isolation and stigmatization. In contrast to what was expected, however, there was no moderation effect at the school level. Implications are discussed.

We know that grade retention is associated with increased frustration. Hence, it is possible that this impactful experience crystallizes into cynic civic attitudes and less intergroup tolerance. Based on democratic frustration theory, we expect retainees to have less respect for people from other cultures than students who were regularly promoted. Based on comparative reference group theory, moreover, we argue this experience might intensify when there are fewer other retainees around. Therefore, the aforementioned association is contextualized by performing cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA 2018 data (17 countries; 6,010 schools; 122,246 students). Results show that retainees have less respect for people from other cultures than students who were never retained. The negative association was larger in countries with few other retainees, which might be due to social isolation and stigmatization. In contrast to what was expected, however, there was no moderation effect at the school level. Implications are discussed.

Previous studies on the impact of grade retention on academic self-concept suffer from inconclusive findings. There is no consensus if retention yields long term benefits that could offset its opportunity costs and, if so, under which conditions. Therefore, this article examines whether grade retention decreases academic self-concept and whether this relationship is mediated by sense of belonging. Moreover, we aim to contextualise retention research by accounting for school retention composition. Based on reference group theory, the effect of grade retention composition upon academic self-concept is expected to be twofold. Normative reference grouping leads to the assumption that students in high retention composition schools will exhibit lower levels of academic self-concept, because retainees’ values are more likely to spread across all students within the same school. Comparative reference grouping might lead to a moderation effect of retention composition on the relationship between grade retention and academic self-concept. Multilevel analyses on ISCY-data, consisting of 2,354 students in 30 secondary schools in Ghent (Flanders) revealed a negative association between grade retention and academic self-concept, which was mediated by sense of belonging. Students in high retention composition schools had a significantly lower academic self-concept. At last, the impact of being retained upon academic self-concept is not affected by the number of retainees within a given context. Implications are discussed.

Having a low sense of belonging in secondary education is associated with feelings of social alienation, lower school performance and dropping out early. Based on the person-environment fit theory, we expect a perceived misfit between retainees and their academic environment. This perceived misfit could increase when there are fewer other retainees around. The contextual impact of grade retention upon sense of belonging is assessed by cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA2015 data (25 countries; 8,004 schools; 206,691 students). Results suggest that retainees overall have a significantly lower sense of belonging. Individual effects are smaller in schools with a higher amount of other retainees and the negative effect for retainees is higher in educational systems with a low amount of retainees. This indicates that retainees, in low retaining schools and systems, suffer from a lower sense of belonging because of both grade retention and the environment in which retainees are exceptional.

Most grade retention research focuses on cognitive learning effects, while research into non-cognitive outcomes, such as academic self-concept, is scarcer and remains largely inconclusive. Therefore, our objectives are to investigate if there is an association between academic self-concept and grade retention, if this association is mediated by sense of belonging and if the retention composition influences academic self-concept in both a direct and indirect way. We aim to contextualize retention research by using the reference group theory (RGT). Multilevel analyses were performed on data from the first wave of the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered in Ghent (Belgium). The sample consisted out of 2354 students (56.5% female) in 30 schools, most of whom were born in a West European country (91.46%). Following the comparative reference group theory (CRGT), we expected that retainees make an assessment of the prevalence of grade retention among their peer group and adjust their interpretation of the event accordingly: the more people repeat a grade, the less a stigma it becomes for the retainees, which should result in a higher academic self-concept. On the other hand, we also expected that, based upon the normative reference group theory (NRGT), schools with a high retention composition would have a lower academic self-concept, since the norms of retainees are more likely to be reproduced by all students. Results showed that academic self-concept is negatively related to grade retention. This, however, stems from a mediation effect of sense of belonging. Grade retention is associated with a lower sense of belonging, which, on its turn, associates with a lower academic self-concept. Results further showed that there is no significant interaction effect of retention composition, so we were not able to confirm the CRGT. There was, however, a direct negative effect of retention composition upon academic self-concept, which supports the NRGT. In summary, we can conclude that academic self-concept is negatively related to school composition in a direct way and negatively related to individual grade retention in an indirect way.