Abstract

This article examines the relationship between students’ psychological sense of community in the classroom, relational and physical aggression, victimization, exclusivity, and prosocial behavior. Seventy-four children from a rural middle school in the southeastern United States participated in this study. Findings indicate that students’ psychological sense of community in the classroom was positively correlated to students’ prosocial skills and negatively correlated to students’ relational victimization and relational aggression generated as a reaction to perceived or actual aggression. We also found that females reported higher levels of both prosocial behavior and relational victimization. Finally, our findings suggest that friendship exclusivity is positively associated with relational aggression and relational victimization.