Classroom management, persistent bullying, and teacher practices in a discrete choice model of habit formation

Abstract

This paper develops an empirical model of habit formation to assess elementary school children’s decision to engage in recurrent (persistent) bullying and to identify the teacher practices most useful in mitigating this type of bullying. The model is estimated using a balanced panel of 460 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development for 2000 to 2003. Results lend support to the habit formation hypothesis; in particular, a child’s preference to bully, in earlier grades, can influence that child’s preference to bully again, in later grades. Teachers’ self- and observed efficacy measures of classroom management and instructional practices are found to have a statistically significant impact on a child’s likelihood of developing persistent bullying behavior. Results of this paper offer insights into the mechanisms that reinforce or temper persistent bullying, and can inform school-based interventions to improve school safety and the lives and education of students.