Confrontation with aggressive peers at school: Students' reluctance to seek help from the teacher

Asking for assistance from a teacher is generally viewed by elementary scho ol students as a way of avoiding rather than resolving peer conflict. Howev er, there are situations when it is appropriate and perhaps necessary to se ek help. This study investigated such situations. Vignettes that portrayed aggressive peer conflict at school were presented to 128 3rd and 4th grader s, who were asked what they would do and why. Students' self-perceptions of peer relations also were measured. At Grade 3, boys and girls were equally likely to go to the teacher for help, whereas at Grade 4, girls were more likely than boys to do so. At Grade 4, girls showed greater interest than b oys in resolving conflict and "getting things back to normal." At Grade 3, students interested in revenge tended to go to the teacher. At both grades, boys were more concerned than girls that help seeking might lead to hassle s with the teacher or reprisals from classmates. Boys who perceived themsel ves as popular and girls who perceived themselves as unpopular were relativ ely likely to seek help. Relations between help seeking and children's grad e level. gender, and self-perceptions are discussed in terms of goal and st rategy components in a social-information-processing model of conflict reso lution.