Developing a Structural Model for Effective Factors on Peer Rejection during Elementary Schools and Examining the Effectiveness of This Model on Self-Efficacy, Aggression and Social Adjustment

The main purpose of the present research is to develop a peer rejection model based on a quantitative-qualitative design as well as examining the effectiveness of a therapeutic program based on this model on aggression, self-efficacy and social adjustment of students. In the qualitative part, the population was included all elementary school teachers and all professors of the psychology and education faculty of Kermanshah universities. 21 teachers and 10 professors were selected through purposeful sampling. In the quantitative part, the statistical population is taken from 6th-grade-elementary-school students of Kermanshah. The total number of the participants is 311 students selected by the random cluster sampling method. In the experimental part, participants were 32 6th grade students who taken from all 6th-grade-elementary-school students of Kermanshah through convenience sampling. The results showed that family problems, weakness in understanding others’ emotions, and language problems had indirect effects on peer rejection while psychological problems, academic failures and apparent lack of attractiveness had direct effects on peer rejection. In the quantitative section, the fitness of the conceptual model was approved. In the experimental section, the results showed that the therapeutic program in the first step can reduce aggression and increase self-efficacy. In the second step, the therapeutic program could increase social adjustment among students.