South African primary school teachers struggle curtailing student behaviors, therefore impeding teaching and learning. To understand this phenomenon, 15 primary school teachers were interviewed. Findings reveal that students’ negative family dynamics, displaced aggression, and social factors influenced challenging behavior. Social cognitive theory and general systems theory rationalized how behavior is learned and transferred within systems. Understanding the causative factors of student challenging behavior will benefit teachers to understand the student before addressing their behavior. Future research should look into student challenging behavior from other perspectives. School intervention programs should be established that support vulnerable students to curtail their challenging behavior.

南非小学老师努力减少学生的行为，因此阻碍了教学。为了了解这种现象，我们采访了15名小学教师。调查结果表明，学生的负面家庭动力，流离失所的攻击行为和社会因素影响了具有挑战性的行为。社会认知理论和一般系统理论合理化了如何在系统内学习和转移行为。了解学生挑战行为的成因将有助于教师在解决学生行为之前了解学生。未来的研究应该从其他角度研究学生的挑战行为。应该建立学校干预计划，以支持弱势学生减少其挑战性行为。