Christine Malecki

Northern Illinois University · Department of Psychology

The global COVID‐19 pandemic significantly disrupted educational environments for all students when the majority of schools in the United States abruptly switched to remote learning. School climate, including support and structure, has been recognized as an important construct that influences student functioning. The current study explored student...

Associations between bullying involvement and academic and behavioral indicators among youth have been established in prior research. However, how perceptions of school climate might moderate the association between bullying participant behaviors (bullying perpetration, assisting, victimization, defending, outsider behavior) and academic and behavi...

Nearly 4 million adolescents in the United States experience clinical depression, and this alarming rate has increased in recent years. Adolescents' perceptions of their school's climate may moderate the association between victimization and depressive symptoms, including suicidality; however, it is unclear whether perceived school climate would ac...

The dual-factor model of mental health emphasizes the integration of subjective well-being and psychopathology to obtain a complete conceptualization of mental health. When used in schoolwide screenings, this dual-factor approach provides a more comprehensive picture of students' mental health. In a sample of adolescents (N = 404) attending a Midwe...

Background Robust research indicates that social support is negatively associated with depression and anxiety. Less work has investigated social support as a network of support across sources like parents and classmates. Past work suggests that sources of support have differential associations with internalizing outcomes. More work exploring the di...

Prosocial teasing is the positive playful form of relational aggression, and studies have found children engage in playful teasing more often than aggressive teasing. Therefore , understanding the basic characteristics or skills that contribute to the more complex social skill of prosocial teasing is important. The current study focused on the role...

Students often hear their peers use biased language regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability status in the school setting. Prior research has indicated that biased language is related to school climate, and specifically to school-based relationships between peers and between students and their teachers. This study investigated th...

Students at risk of suicide can be identified effectively through school-based prevention programs such as Signs of Suicide (SOS), which incorporate both psychoeducation and screening components. Prior research has focused on high school students; however, there is limited research in middle schools, and even less is known of school staff’s respons...

Social support in children and adolescents is fundamental for preventing mental health problems. Differences in sources and types of social support may lead to differential effects on psychosocial outcomes; however, tools to assess these differences are lacking in Japan. The present study investigated the reliability and validity of the Japanese ve...

Bullying behavior is understood as a complex social phenomenon that includes many, and sometimes overlapping, bullying participant behaviors. The current study utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) at two time points approximately one year apart and examined what bullying participant behavior groups emerged based on students' reported levels of bu...

Although some research has evidenced a negative association between involvement in bullying and academic performance, more work is needed to understand the associations between academic performance and involvement in a more comprehensive range of bully role behaviors. The goals of the current study were to determine (a) the associations among a bro...

The current study examined (a) the associations of COVID-19 stress with anxiety and depression and whether those associations differed by gender or grade level, and (b) how different coping strategies mitigated the associations of COVID-19 stress with anxiety and depression. During remote learning due to COVID-19, data were collected from 2,738 stu...

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders created a need for assessing elementary, middle, and high school students’ experienced stressors associated with the coronavirus situation. In collaboration with a school district wanting information about their students’ well-being during the pandemic school shut-down, the current study inves...

A variety of writing interventions task peers with assisting students with planning and revising written text, including providing feedback on other students’ writing. This chapter discusses the use of peers as change agents within writing interventions. In particular, we identify the many areas of writing that students can be enlisted to support t...

The general benefits of social support are well-documented; however, little is understood about the unique contributions of social support from specific sources, such as parents and peers. In addition, it is unknown whether social support from some sources might buffer against a lack of social support from another source for the outcome of internal...

Background Resource control theory posits that individuals may utilize prosocial and/or coercive strategies to access social resources. Resource control theory has utility for understanding adolescents’ engagement in bullying role behaviors. Objective The current study examined direct associations between bullying role behaviors (i.e., bullying, v...

Using a stigma-based bullying framework, the current study investigated how (a) disability status was related to bullying-related behaviors when controlling for gender, grade level, and free or reduced lunch status; (b) gender, grade level, and free or reduced lunch status moderated the associations of disability status with bullying-related behavi...

Grit has been defined as passionate perseverance toward long‐term challenging goals and it is associated with various positive outcomes for youth, including academic achievement. However, less is known about these associations for the two facets of grit (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interest) and few studies have examined the link b...

The current study investigated the relationship between victimization experiences (including traditional and cyber-victimization) and social support from two different groups of peers (classmates and close friends) in relation to social anxiety during adolescence. Specifically, this study investigated the social deterioration hypothesis to understa...

After a decade of research, grit has been linked to many adaptive outcomes for adolescents and the development of school-based interventions for promoting adolescents' grit has been recommended. However, a reconceptualization of grit and its measurement may be vital for future grit research and application. The currently predominant grit assessment...

The current study examined the relationship between social support from classmates and close friends and social anxiety in a sample of 377 adolescent students in grades 9–12. The results of the current study suggest that both the frequency and importance placed on support from classmates and close friends is associated with social anxiety. Interest...

The purpose of the current study is to investigate social support (from parents, classmates, teachers, and close friends) as a protective factor in the association between depression and suicidal ideation. Data on students’ levels of social support, depression, and suicidal ideation were collected from 399 9th‐grade students using the Child and Ado...

Background Peer bullying is associated with internalizing problems for children and adolescents. However, less is known about how these same behaviors are related to student well-being when they occur within the context of the sibling relationship and how supportive behavior may benefit those experiencing bullying. Objective The purpose of this st...

This meta-analysis evaluated the relation between social support and depression in youth and compared the cumulative evidence for 2 theories that have been proposed to explain this association: the general benefits (GB; also known as main effects) and stress-buffering (SB) models. The study included 341 articles (19% unpublished) gathered through a...

The current study investigated the effects of goal setting and performance feedback on Curriculum Based Measurement in Written Expression (CBM-WE). This two-study investigation examined the utility of the intervention using two different delivery mechanisms. In Study 1, fourth grade students (n = 114) were provided both with (a) feedback from their...

Data on students' perceptions of teacher social support, academic functioning, and social-emotional functioning were collected from a sample of 796 7th and 8th grade middle school students using the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS; Malecki, Demaray, & Elliott, 2000), Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and school records, and the Beh...

Background: Bullying behavior is related to higher levels of internalizing distress and can be defined as including three aspects: frequency, intentionality, and power differential. However, bullying behavior is most often measured using only one aspect: frequency. Objective The current study investigated the relative importance of several importan...

OVERVIEW Social support is a crucial construct in the lives of youth. Social support refers to general and specific supportive behaviors from people that enhance a youth's functioning and/or may buffer him or her from negative outcomes (Malecki & Demaray, 2002). Thus, social support may be a sense of feeling loved or cared for by parents or teacher...

Bullying is a growing problem in many schools today, and accurate perceptions of bullying and victimization in schools are necessary in order for programs aimed at intervention for bullying behaviors to be effective. The current study examined agreement among students', teachers', and parents' perceptions of victimization across gender and grade le...

Many chapters in this book and many years' worth of research are devoted to preventing crisis situations from happening in schools; but unfortunately, crisis events of many kinds will happen. Thus, the task for educators is to find ways to build resilient school communities that might prevent certain types of crises and to be prepared for those cri...

The current study investigated the stability of peer victimization and the impact of the timing and duration of victimization on psychological and academic outcomes for boys and girls on a sample of 863 middle school students. Results demonstrated strong support for the onset hypothesis and concurrent effects of maladjustment in anxiety, depression...

Engaging in bullying and other violent behavior is influenced by characteristics of the individual, family, peers, school, and community; thus, researchers have focused on understanding the many ecological and contextual variables surrounding bullying and school violence. This chapter focuses on one such contextual factor: perceptions of social sup...

This study prospectively examined the role of attributional style and perceived parental support as intrapersonal and interpersonal risk and resilience factors to increases in depressive symptoms in the face of stress with a sample of 497 middle school students. Results demonstrated that boys with a pessimistic attributional style and low or modera...

The psychometric properties of two paper-and-pencil versions of the Children's Attributional Style Interview (i.e., CASI-I and CASI-II) were evaluated in a sample of 166 third and fourth graders and a sample of 245 sixth and seventh graders. The results demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and a factor structur...

Even for people not well-versed in research, intuitively social support seems essential for a pos-itive, healthy life for people throughout the lifespan. Focusing on childhood and adolescence, it is easy to see how having a loving, caring parent; a supportive, honest, and sharing friend; or an information-sharing, accessible teacher would be buildi...

The current study investigated gender differences in the relationship between sources of perceived support (parent, teacher, classmate, friend, school) and psychological and academic adjustment in a sample of 636 (49% male) middle school students. Longitudinal data were collected at two time points in the same school year. The study provided psycho...

The present study examined the effect accommodations have on test results of students with and without disabilities and documented experts’ judgments about the appropriateness of testing accommodations. Test score data were collected from 218 fourth-grade students with and without disabilities on mathematics and science performance tasks and from e...

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived frequency and perceived importance of social support with youth's self-concept. Data from a large representative sample of 921 children and adolescents in grades 3 through 12 were analyzed. Results indicated that the relationships between the frequency of social suppor...

The current study is an investigation of early adolescents' perceptions of social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends, and how that support is related to measures of students' adjustment on a range of behavioral indices. Data were collected on a sample of 246 students in Grades 6 through 8 using the Child and Adolescent So...

The present study is a preliminary investigation of the potential mediating role in the relationship between levels of victimization and students' adjustment for a sample of urban, predominantly Latino middle school students. A sample of 142 sixth through eighth grade students completed self-report measures including: (a) the Child and Adolescent S...

The purpose of the current preliminary study was to examine the levels of perceived social support by adolescents in the US and Finland. American research has demonstrated that high perceived levels of social support can buffer adolescents against many negative psychosocial symptoms, such as depression, anxiety and low self-esteem and is a necessar...

Research testing the reformulated theory of learned helplessness has been limited by the psychometric properties of instruments used to measure children's attributional style. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to modify a relatively new measure of attributional style that has demonstrated strong psychometric properties with young children an...

This chapter presents information on assessment strategies for social behaviors in schools that may be used in a problem-solving approach that incorporates response to intervention (RTI). As a point of communication, although many associate RTI solely as a method for identifying and qualifying students for special education services, this chapter d...

Bullying is a significant problem in schools across America. Educators are dealing with the problem of bullying through the implementation of various anti-bullying programs. Additionally, researchers are studying the problem and have begun to focus on the importance of contextual factors surrounding bullying such as social support (Beran & Tutty, 2...

The present study was an investigation of the potential moderating effect of social support on academic performance for students living in poverty. Data were collected in one urban middle school from 164 primarily Hispanic students using the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS; Malecki, Demaray, & Elliott, 2000) and students' course gr...

Violence in American schools has been identified as a concern to educators across the country. For example, one large-scale study in the United States has identified that at least 30% of students in Grades 6-10 are involved in bullying either as a bully, a victim, or both (Nansel et al., 2001) in their school. Bullying behavior is a risk factor for...

This study examined the utility of three categories of CBM written lan- guage indices including production-dependent indices (Total Words Written, Words Spelled Correctly, and Correct Writing Sequences), production-independent indi- ces (Percentage of Words Spelled Correctly and Percentage of Correct Writing Sequences), and an accurate-production i...

This study is an examination of the relationship of perceived social support and adolescents' adjustment behaviors over time. The sample (n = 82) included students from two at-risk urban middle schools. Utilizing two measures, the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS; C. K. Malecki, M. K. Demaray, & S. N. Elliott, 2000) and the Behavior...

The present study asked: What types of support (emotional, informational, appraisal, and instrumental) do students perceive from the sources of support (parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends)? and Are types of social support more related to students' social, behavioral, and academic outcomes? Gender differences in perceptions of support...

The present study examined the perceptions of the frequency and importance of social support for students classified as bullies, victims, bully-victims, and comparison students (nonbully/nonvictim). The sample included 499 sixth-through eighth-grade students from a predominantly Hispanic urban middle school. Students completed an anonymous survey t...

Perceived social support is a protective or risk factor that is consistently cited in the school violence and weapon possession literature; however, few empirical studies to date have thoroughly examined the relationships among social support variables and school violence or weapon possession. In the present study, two broad research objectives wer...

The present study focused on CBM written language procedures by conducting an investigation of the developmental, gender, and practical considerations surrounding three categories of CBM written language scoring indices: production-dependent, production-independent, and accurate-production. Students in first- through eighth-grade generated a three-...

The frequency of students' social support has been investigated in the literature, but little research has examined the social validity or social importance of supportive behaviors for children and adolescents. In the present study, data were gathered from 1,688 students in Grades 3 through 12 via the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASS...

Investigated the relationships among perceived social support and academic, behavioral, and social indicators for 1,711 students in Grades 3 through 12. Data were collected with the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, the Social Skills Rating System, the Student Self-Concept Scale, and the Behavior Assessment System for Children. Results sho...

This study examines the relationship between adolescents' (N = 125) perceived social support and self-reported (mal)adjustment indicators in a sample of predominantly at risk: Hispanic students in an urban middle school. The instruments used to collect data were the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (Malecki, Demaray, & Elliott, 2000) and t...

This study was an investigation of the relationships among 139 third- and fourth-grade elementary students' social skills, problem behaviors, academic competence, and academic achievement. The primary research question addressed the relationship between social behaviors and academic achievement. All data were collected and examined at 2 time points...

The measurement of students' social support has become a popular topic in education and psychology, yet measurement tools in this area are limited. In this study, we use a large, representative sample to conduct confirmatory factor, reliability, and correlational analyses of scores on the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS; Malecki, D...

Social skills are important to the successful social and academic functioning of all students and play a significant role in avoiding or preventing negative responses from others. Social skills also are important aspects of effective schools. In this article, we emphasize the assessment and intervention of the academic side of social skills. That i...

This study investigated the measurement of social support for adolescents using the Student Social Support Scale(SSSS). A sample of 198 students in grades 7 through 12 completed the SSSS and either the Student Self-Concept Scaleor the Social Skills Rating System. The results provided evidence that the SSSS is a four-factor scale (Parent, Teacher, C...