A Study of the Consequences of Sixth Graders Proximity to First-Graders with respect to Bullying and Aggressive Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the consequences of the proximity of 6th graders and first graders in the new structure of Iran primary education, with respect to bullying and aggressive behaviors. This research is a practical study in its purpose, and a survey one, in the manner by which it is carried out. Statistical population of this study includes all first- and sixth-grade students studying in elementary schools of Kashan in the 2016-17 academic year. The size of the selected samples included 389 of first-grade students and 464 of sixth-grade students who were selected by using multi-stage cluster sampling procedure. To collect data, two questionnaires called Bully & Victim (Chan, Myron & Crawshaw, 2005) and Student School Survey (Hamburger & Basile, 2011) were employed. Reliabilities of the questionnaires for first-grade students and sixth-grade students were estimated to be 0.84 and 0.73 respectively. The analysis of data showed that the existence of 6th graders has boosted bullying and violence in primary schools. It’s very important to consider gender as an underlying variable in our explanations. The boys studying in 4-6th grade schools scored significantly lower in the components of observation, action and complicity in violent behaviors than their peers in 1-6th grade schools. It seems that the proximity of 6th graders to first graders affects boy’s schools and girl’s schools differently with respect to bullying and violent behaviors. Male six graders were found to perpetrate more physical and psychological harassment on first graders compared to the female ones.