The Predictive Roles of Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviours, and Socioeconomic Status on Perceived Classroom Climate in 4th-grade Children

Classrooms are one of the important socializing venues for children. It is important to understand the factors that affect perceived classroom climate because children spend more time at school compared to home. Outcomes of classroom climate includes attendance records, surface vs. deeper learning, grades of students, learning motivations, level of bullying and conflict, level of prosocial behaviours and cooperation among peers. That’s why it is important to be aware of the factors that affect perceived classroom climate in order to decrease negative behaviours (i.e. bullying and conflict) and promote positive behaviours (i.e. prosocial behaviours). Therefore, the current study aimed to examine; (a) aggressive and prosocial behaviours, (b) socioeconomic status of parents (parental level of income and parental education level), (c) students’ perceptions of the classroom climate. The sample consisted of 152 (81 male, 71 female) Turkish speaking students who completed self-report measures including; demographic questionnaire, Aggressive and Prosocial Behaviours Questionnaire and Student’s Perceptions of the Classroom Environment Scale. Results revealed that there was a positive correlation between combined prosocial behaviours and perceived positive classroom climate. Whereas, there was a negative correlation between combined aggressive behaviours and perceived positive classroom climate. Also, parental SES, combined prosocial behaviours and combined aggressive behaviours mediate and moderate the link of perceived positive classroom climate. Keywords: Parental Socioeconomic Status, Aggressive and Prosocial Behaviours, Perceived Positive Classroom Climate.