The Role of School Context on Marijuana Use in Chile: A Classroom-Level Analysis

Effects of Classroom Composition on the Development of Antisocial Behavior in Lower Secondary School

“…The studies by Araos et al. () and Bosse et al. () are also very interesting in that they relate to what we consider the main research gap.…”

“…The few existing results concerning this issue are not conclusive. While a recent cross‐sectional study by Araos, Cea, Fernández, and Valenzuela () in Chile indicated that the level of marijuana use among the classmates was related to the individual rates of consumption among seventh graders, different results emerged from a study by Bosse, Gerritsen, and Klein (). Based on their data set of 194 seventh graders, these authors found little evidence of compositional effects but stressed the preliminary nature of their findings due to the small sample size and the incomplete information available on class composition.…”

“…Evidence concerning this issue is scarce, as most studies on early adolescence examined the impact of cliques or best friends (e.g., Berndt & Keefe, ; Espelage, Holt, & Henkel, ). Some relevant information is provided by the two studies described above (Araos et al., ; Bosse et al., ), and an analysis by the authors indicating that there are significant class composition effects on seventh graders’ school problem behaviors (Müller, Hofmann, Fleischli, & Studer, in press). Problem behaviors at school, as explored in this study, were narrowly defined as students’ norm violations in their interactions with their classroom teachers (e.g., not being attentive, standing up in class, not completing homework).…”

An Overview of Classroom Composition Research on Social-Emotional Outcomes: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…For example, Henry et al (2000), in parts of their analyses, did not find evidence that classroom aggression affects individual aggressive behavior (see also e.g., Bosse, Gerritsen, & Klein, 2010). Other studies in research Area A did not predict individual social-emotional outcomes by the same characteristics of the classmates but used other classroom variables as predictors (e.g., Araos et al, 2014;Busching & Krahé, 2015;Henry et al, 2000;Hoglund & Leadbeater, 2004;Mercer et al, 2009;Stearns, Dodge, & Nicholson, 2008;Werthamer-Larsson, Kellam, & Wheeler, 1991). As examples, Hoglund and Leadbeater (2004) found that classroom levels of prosocial behaviors and victimization predicted students' individual social competence, and Werthamer-Larsson et al (1991) reported that attending low-achieving and poor-behaving first-grade classrooms predicted increased shy behavior of students.…”

“…Furthermore, it should be noted that when considering the influence of the whole classroom composition on an individual student, the aspect of peer selection falls away in the social influence process (at least in many school systems). This led researchers suggest that studies examining classroom composition effects in school systems with clear classroom assignments and self-contained classrooms allow to identify "pure" peer socialization effects (e.g., Araos, Cea, Fernandez, & Valenzuela, 2014;Busching & Krahé, 2015).…”