Attitude Transference Among Adolescents: The Relationship Between Injunctive Classroom Norms and Individual Antisocial Attitudes

Abstract

Cognition plays a major role in the development of antisocial behavior. The aim of this study was to extend the current state of research regarding the mechanisms of negative peer influence in adolescence by testing whether aggregated classroom attitudes (injunctive norms) predict individual attitudes toward antisocial behavior and vice versa. For that purpose, attitudes toward a broad range of aggressive and delinquent behaviors were assessed in 864 lower secondary school students in Switzerland. The survey took place at 4 measurement points, spanning Grade 7 to Grade 9. The reciprocal influence between group norms and individual attitudes was tested in a lagged multilevel model for change. Results indicated that injunctive classroom norms predicted subsequent individual attitudes but that individual attitudes did not predict subsequent classroom norms, even if student’s social dominance status was included in the model as a moderator.