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Civility is an important construct to be addressed in relation to child and youth development. The issue of classroom incivility is of particular interest, given its potential negative impacts to both the psychosocial well-being of adolescents and the overall learning environment. Therefore, the current study sought to investigate similarities and differences between perceptions of middle and high school students and teachers. Participants consisted of 40 intermediate and high school teachers and 52 students in Grades 7-12. Both students and teachers rated uncivil behaviour in the classroom based on how serious they thought it was and how often it occurred in their classroom. Further, participants responded to open-ended questions to allow for a deeper exploration of the viewpoints and lived experiences of both students and teachers. Findings suggest that adolescent students consider uncivil behaviours that may be seen as disrespectful towards the teacher as more uncivil than do teachers themselves. Teachers tended to focus on adolescents engaging in uncivil behaviuor towards each other as being more serious as well as a focus the negative implications of classroom incivility to the learning environment. These differing perceptions of uncivil behaviour in the classroom have important implications for intervention within educational settings.

The authors investigate the personality traits of parents and children and their significant influence on the behavior of the other. Using the HEXACO model of personality, the authors examine the behavior of one hundred parent-child dyads on a playground to understand broader parent-child relationships. Their analyses reveal two opposed types of parental behavior (engaged parents versus unengaged parents) and child behavior (introverted cautious play versus autonomous energetic play) on the playground. The authors assert their study demonstrates that the personality traits of both parents and children as measured by the HEXACO model play a significant role in parental and child behaviors during play and in broader interactions.

Classroom incivility is a critical concept relating to the academic and psychosocial well-being of children and youth. However, there has yet to be research investigating whether there are social benefits to this behavior in early adolescence. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore the relationship between classroom incivility and measures of social network position, including incoming and mutual friendships, two forms of centrality, and social network prestige. We investigated network position of 488 students between the ages of 9 and 14 (M = 11.48; SD = 1.14). Our findings highlight a general negative curvilinear association between classroom incivility and social network position. Specifically, children and youth who engage in moderate levels of classroom incivility have more friends and are leaders in the group (higher network prestige). In contrast, those who engage in higher or lower levels of classroom incivility have fewer friends and are less prestigious.

This study extended previous research published in this journal in which parental monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with tolerance of antisocial behavior in adolescents with temperamental deficits in self-regulation. In the current study, parental control (i.e., adolescent permission seeking) and adolescent self-disclosure were negatively associated with attitudinal tolerance of antisocial behavior. Additionally, Honesty-Humility and Emotionality were negatively related to antisocial attitudes, and parental control was related to tolerance of antisocial behavior only when Honesty-Humility was low. In both studies, parental behavioral control was related more strongly to antisocial attitudes when adolescents had traits that predisposed them to antisocial behavior.

Bullying is a peer relational problem that can inflict psychological harm onto both those who are victimized and those who witness it occur. Fostering a positive classroom environment is an important protective factor in preventing bullying. Authoritative classroom climates may protect victimized and bystander youth from negative mental health outcomes associated with bullying involvement. The current study examined how dimensions of authoritative classrooms -- disciplinary structure and teacher support -- moderate the relationship between bullying involvement (e.g., victimization, witnessing) and students' psychological functioning (e.g., psychosocial wellbeing, emotional problems). We explored how authoritative classroom climate may protect victimized and bystander youth across different cultural contexts. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted on two separate samples of youth, from China (2,395 students in grades 5-9, from 58 classrooms across 5 schools), and Canada (538 students in grades 5-8, from 31 classrooms across 5 schools). Findings indicated that both victimization and witnessing were associated with lower psychosocial wellbeing and higher levels of emotional problems among Chinese and Canadian youth. For Chinese youth, witnessing was less strongly associated with lower psychosocial wellbeing in classrooms with higher disciplinary structure. In contrast, witnessing was more strongly related to emotional problems and lower psychosocial wellbeing in Chinese classrooms with higher teacher support. Collectively, these findings suggest that bullying negatively affects the mental health of the broader school community across both Chinese and Canadian contexts. In more collectivist cultures, promoting classroom climates that regulate student's behaviors by enforcing discipline fairly and consistently may help lower distress among students who witness bullying.

Uncivil behavior in the classroom is a growing issue among children and youth both academically and developmentally. This unique low-level antisocial behavior may be a precursor to higher-level antisocial behavior, and it is therefore important to have a relevant tool to be able to measure engagement in such behavior in the classroom. Using data from 586 children and youth (46.4% boys) between the ages of 10 and 14 (M = 12.02; SD = 1.35), we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate a scale of classroom incivility consisting of two subscales based on intentionality (intentional and unintentional). We also ensured construct validity of our subscales by exploring HEXACO personality profiles and correlating our measures with both self- and peer-reported variables related to social and mental well-being. Our results highlight that engaging in classroom incivility is positively associated with poorer well-being, antisocial traits and antisocial behavior. Our results also demonstrate distinct personality profiles of students who reported engaging in intentional versus unintentional classroom incivility. This study is an important first step for future research exploring the potential antecedents and implications of engaging in uncivil behavior in the classroom, particularly if such behavior may have potential to escalate into more serious behavior later on.

Civility relates to following rules that typically are aimed at promoting positive social behaviour. A lack of civility can be either intentional (e.g., insulting a classmate) or unintentional (e.g., packing up early). Civility is an important issue within classroom settings because it not only influences classroom functioning, but may also serve as a gateway to more serious antisocial behaviour. With regard to the latter, we were specifically interested in whether attitudes towards behaviour deemed as 'incivility' were associated with more serious bullying behaviour. Beyond any associations with each other, we were also interested in whether incivil attitudes and bullying share common personality correlates among adolescents. To answer these questions, our study examined the links between HEXACO personality traits, intentional and unintentional incivility, and bullying. Adolescents (n = 396) completed self-report questionnaires, and results were analysed with structural equation modelling. There were similarities and differences between the personality correlates of bullying and attitudes towards the two kinds of incivility. In particular, we found a significant association between personality and bullying behaviour that was mediated by attitudes towards intentional incivility. Our results highlight the importance of increasing awareness of educators regarding classroom incivility, given its potential negative implications within a school setting.

Bystanders play a crucial role in encouraging or preventing bullying situations and feature prominently in several international antibullying programs (e.g., KiVa). Despite a surge of recent interest in bystanders, relatively little is known about the functional reasons why individuals choose to engage with or ignore bullying incidents. Given the importance of bystanders' influence on bullying, we argue that further consideration needs to be given to the individual costs and benefits of bystanders' intervention. Adolescents in our study (N = 101, M = 15.37 years) read different bullying scenarios and were then asked to respond with how the bystander would react in each scenario while considering and explaining potential personal costs and benefits. We focused on the cognitive reasoning of important factors adolescents may consider when faced with the decision of whether to intervene or not in a bullying situation. Our study provides novel evidence that adolescents engage in quite explicit cost-benefit decisions regarding their decisions of whether or not they would intervene in bullying. The content and structure of these cost-benefit decisions support an adaptive model of bullying behavior and may be helpful in developing more targeted peer-based antibullying programs.

The current study examined whether personality traits were related to social dominance, directly, and indirectly through bullying, in samples of Western (Canadian) and Eastern (Chinese) adolescents. Self-report measures of personality, bullying, and social dominance were completed by 442 Chinese adolescents (293 boys), ages 14 to 19 (M = 14.63, SD = 1.53), and 389 Canadian adolescents (161 boys), ages 12 to 18 (M = 14.64, SD = 1.53). It was predicted that personality traits involving arrogance and exploitativeness (i.e., low Honesty-Humility) and impulsivity (i.e., low Conscientiousness) would be indirectly associated with social dominance, through bullying, in both samples. Consistent with evolutionary psychological perspectives, Honesty-Humility was directly and indirectly related to social dominance in both samples, whereas Conscientiousness was indirectly associated through bullying in Canadian and Chinese participants. Some relations differed across cultural contexts, in line with evolutionary and ecological perspectives suggesting that the expression of predispositions toward bullying and dominance depends on the costs and benefits afforded by the environmental (cultural) context. Specifically, eXtraversion was indirectly related to social dominance through bullying only in the Chinese sample, whereas Agreeableness was directly related to social dominance only for Canadian participants. We discuss the implications of these results for future research and intervention efforts along with the need to further verify the cross-cultural validity of adolescent behavior measures., Author(s): Anthony A. Volk [sup.1] , Daniel A. Provenzano [sup.2] , Ann H. Farrell [sup.3] , Andrew V. Dane [sup.1] , Elizabeth P. Shulman [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411793.9, 0000 [...]

Incivility involves rude, discourteous, and disrespectful attitudes and behaviours. The present study examined how various temperament traits were related to beliefs of classroom incivility among adolescents. The sample comprised of 222 adolescents (120 boys) between the ages of 12 and 17 (M[superscript age] = 14.07, SD = 1.54) who were recruited from various extracurricular clubs and sports teams in Southern Ontario. Both intentional and unintentional incivility were examined through separate hierarchical multiple regressions. Lower Effortful Control and lower Frustration significantly predicted unintentional incivility. In addition, lower Affiliation and lower Effortful Control significantly predicted intentional incivility. The results are discussed highlighting practical implications in educational settings, as well as suggestions for future research on incivility, given its potential associations with more negative antisocial behaviours. The results suggest that although there may be shared temperament traits of adolescents who take part in classroom incivility, a disposition for specific subtypes may differ based on the specific temperament characteristics of adolescents.

Introduction: Adolescent bullying is a complicated behavior that is difficult to prevent. Understanding factors that predict bullying during adolescence can help us minimize such behavior. Classroom incivility is a low‐level antisocial behavior that has been discussed in the literature as being a potential predictor of bullying in adolescence. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine the longitudinal link between classroom incivility and bullying. Methods: Data for the current study was collected using quantitative surveys at two‐time points, three years apart (November 2019 and November 2022) in southern Ontario, Canada. Our sample comprised 349 adolescents (51.3% boys, 46.4% girls, 0.6% other, and 1.7% preferred not to say) between the ages of 9 and 14 years old (M = 11.92 years; SD = 1.42). We utilized cross‐lagged analyses to examine the stability of classroom incivility in adolescence, and the longitudinal association between classroom incivility and bullying. Results: Classroom incivility at Time 1 predicted bullying behavior at Time 2, while bullying at Time 1 did not predict classroom incivility at Time 2. Our results not only support the stability of levels of classroom incivility across time, but also provide empirical support for classroom incivility as a precursor to bullying behavior. Conclusion: Our study suggests that classroom incivility can not only negatively impact the learning environment but may also be implicated in contributing to the circumstances that promote bullying behavior in adolescence, highlighting the importance of limiting uncivil behavior before it escalates into more severe forms of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]