Relational aggression and victimization experiences are prevalent among young children and can compromise their development. Although classroom social network characteristics have been found to predict relational aggression and victimization, few studies have been conducted in early childhood classrooms. This study examined the predictability of individual classroom social network characteristics (centralization, density, transitivity) on relational aggression and relational victimization. The unique contribution of each classroom social network characteristic in predicting relational aggression/victimization was also assessed. The analytical sample involved 647 children from 43 kindergarten classrooms. Results demonstrated that classrooms with higher centralization and lower transitivity tended to have a higher rate of aggression, while relational victimization was only negatively predicted by transitivity. The present study highlighted the importance of classroom social networks as the contextual antecedents of children’s relational aggression and victimization behaviors in kindergarten. Specifically, high transitivity was a protective social network characteristic for relational aggression and victimization beyond network centralization. Peer-based interventions focusing on forming and strengthening friendship cliques may be worth exploring.

中文翻译：

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幼儿园儿童关系攻击和受害的课堂社交网络前因

关系攻击和受害经历在幼儿中普遍存在，可能会损害他们的发展。尽管已发现课堂社交网络特征可以预测关系攻击和受害，但在幼儿课堂上进行的研究很少。本研究考察了个体课堂社交网络特征（集中化、密度、传递性）对关系攻击和关系受害的可预测性。还评估了每个课堂社交网络特征在预测关系攻击/受害方面的独特贡献。分析样本涉及来自 43 个幼儿园教室的 647 名儿童。结果表明，集中度较高且传递性较低的教室往往具有较高的攻击性，而关系受害仅通过传递性进行负向预测。本研究强调了课堂社交网络作为幼儿园儿童关系攻击和受害行为的背景前因的重要性。具体来说，高传递性是网络集中之外的关系攻击和受害者的保护性社交网络特征。专注于形成和加强友谊集团的基于同伴的干预措施可能值得探索。