The relationship between externalizing behavior and school, family, and community bonding

Abstract

Externalizing behavior, when present in adolescence, is a strong risk factor for more severe problems in adulthood, such as involvement in crime and addiction behaviors. Social bonding is recognized within the leading theoretical and practical prevention frameworks as a central protective factor that affects externalizing behavior in children and young people. Guided with the premises that positive social bonding to family, school and community reduces the risk of developing externalizing behavior, a study was conducted during first half of the 2020/2021 school year with an aim of exploring the predictive strength of positive social bonding on externalizing behavior of elementary school students. Research data were collected on a sample of 637 students (51% of boys) aged 12 to 15 (M = 13.16, SD = 1) from six Belgrade primary schools. The Communities That Care – CTC Youth Survey (Arthur et al., 2002) was used to examine positive social bonding in the family, school and community domain. Scale for Externalizing problems (combined scales Behavior Problems and Hyperactivity) was taken from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Srp), version for adolescents' self-assessment (S 11-16). The results of the research show that, in the regression model, positive social bonding explains 23% of the variance of externalizing behavior (F = 57.38, df1 = 3, df2 = 584, p <.001, R² = .23), with strongest individual contribution from school bonding (β = .27, p = .000), followed with positive social bonding to family (β = .23, p = .000), while bonding to the community did not prove to be a significant predictor of externalizing behavior in students (β = .07, p = .12). Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that there are confirmations of protective effects of bonding in family and school, but they lack in the community domain. Based on the obtained results, general preventive efforts should be aimed at fostering positive family and school social bonding. Research data also suggests that other factors should be taken into account, considering that family and school bonding covers for 23% of the variance of externalizing behavior in students, leaving room for working on a number of other factors in efforts to prevent externalizing behavior.