RESILIENCE FACTORS THAT SUPPORT THE CLASSROOM FUNCTIONING OF ACTING-OUT AND AGGRESSIVE STUDENTS

Fifth and sixth grade students from a Latino community who were charac terized as aggressive and acting out by their classroom teachers were organized into two groups: those rated by teachers as high on school l earning (classroom academic performance) and those rated as low on sch ool learning. Students were compared on self-ratings of resiliency con cepts such as academic and social self-concept, social support, school bonding, and perceived parent supervision. Gender differences were al so examined. Students who were rated as aggressive by their teachers, but high on school learning, reported more resiliency indicators inclu ding more social support functions fulfilled and higher perceived pare ntal supervision compared to their peers, who were rated low on school learning. A discriminant analysis revealed that perceived parental su pervision was the key variable in differentiating these groups. Analys es of differences by gender indicated that girls reported greater clas sroom readiness than boys. Implications for utilizing resiliency const ructs for the early intervention of aggressive behavior in students, a s well as the need for involving parents and teachers as sources of so cial support and supervision are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons , Inc.