Publication Date
2025
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Malecki, Christine
Degree Name
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Legacy Department
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Children engage in prosocial teasing which is an ambiguous, positive, and humorous social interaction involving the use of intentional provocation and off-record markers to form meaningful relationships and resolve conflicts (Keltner et al., 2001). While research has indicated a significant prevalence of prosocial teasing use among children, limited studies have explored the levels of prosocial teasing use among elementary school students and teachers' ratings of that use (Barnett et al., 2004; Smith et al., 2009). This study aimed at refining an existing child behavior scale to develop a subscale that accurately measured and represented prosocial teasing in elementary school children. This study also sought to understand the level of agreement between students’ use of prosocial teasing and teachers’ rating of students’ prosocial teasing use. Lastly, this study explored the gender differences in the use of prosocial teasing among fifth-grade students as well as the difference in prosocial teasing use among boys and girls according to teachers. Findings revealed that items from the rough-and-tumble play, and playful relational behaviors subscales together loaded on a single factor of prosocial teasing. Results indicated only a small level of agreement between students’ and teachers’ ratings of the frequency of use of prosocial teasing. No gender difference was found in students’ self-reported prosocial teasing use. However, teachers perceived boys to use prosocial teasing more frequently than they rated girls’ teasing use.
Recommended Citation
., Ourja, ""I know you're just teasing me!": Investigating 5th Grade Students' and Teachers' Understanding of Prosocial Teasing" (2025). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 8101.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/8101
Extent
86 pages
Language
en
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
