Disruptive kindergartners are likely to be bullied later in elementary school
Kindergartners who act out, disrupt classrooms, get angry and argue with their teachers are especially once they reach third, fourth and fifth grade, our research group has found.
We continue to investigate bullying in U.S. elementary schools, but our initial findings indicate that the odds that disruptive kindergartners will be shoved, pushed or hit, teased or called names, left out, and have lies told about them are roughly twice as high as for kindergartners who do not act out in classrooms. We observed this in analyses accounting for many other risk factors.
Our findings are consistent with, but also extend, prior research documenting that children who are or who are are more likely to be bullied than their peers who are from or who are more academically skilled.
, we find that young boys are more likely to be shoved, pushed or hit, while young girls are more likely to be teased or called names, left out, and told lies about. Children with disabilities, particularly boys, are more likely to be frequently bullied. Black boys more frequently experienced other children telling lies about them than white boys, consistent with prior work finding that Black children are at greater .
We believe our study represents the first analysis of a nationally representative sample that identifies which kindergartners are most likely to be bullied later in U.S. elementary schools. We hope the information helps parents and school staff identify and support young children who are especially likely to be bullied.
The harms of bullying
Schoolchildren who are frequently bullied are likely to later be , anxious and as well as to be , impoverished and . These risks are as large as those associated with being placed in foster care or .
Early identification can help support those children who are being bullied and so limit the potential damage. Screening and prevention efforts are when delivered while children are still young. may be needed for those being frequently bullied.
And looking at specific types of bullying may help schools and parents more directly serve the of children experiencing physical or nonphysical bullying.
The results suggest that to help kindergartners learn to manage their disruptive behaviors, the these children are to be bullied later on in elementary school.
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