Multiple sources of data on social behavior and social status in the school: a cross-age comparison

Behavioral data relating to peer social status were collected from peers, teachers, and observers on both first- and third-grade boys (ages 6-7 and 8-9 years, respectively). Peer and teacher ratings had greater intermethod agreement than observer data, although all 3 sources provided evidence that rejected and controversial boys were more aggressive than other boys. However, relatively little aggression was observed among the older boys, indicating that peers and teachers may be better sources of information about aggression in this group. Observational data differentiated among status groups on measures of activity (on task vs. off-task, and prosocial play vs. solitary activity) for both age groups. Rejected boys displayed little prosocial behavior according to peers and teachers, but were not less often engaged in prosocial play, according to observers. Neglected boys were the most solitary group during play; however, teachers rated rejected boys as the most solitary, contrary to observations. Controversial boys were seen as highly aggressive by all sources but as highly prosocial only by peers and observers.     

Relational Aggression, Gender, and Social-Psychological Adjustment

Prior studies of childhood aggression have demonstrated that, as a group, boys are more aggressive than girls. We hypothesized that this finding reflects a lack of research on forms of aggression that are relevant to young females rather than an actual gender difference in levels of overall aggressiveness. In the present study, a form of aggression hypothesized to be typical of girls, relational aggression, was assessed with a peer nomination instrument for a sample of 491 third- through sixth-grade children. Overt aggression (i.e., physical and verbal aggression as assessed in past research) and social-psychological adjustment were also assessed. Results provide evidence for the validity and distinctiveness of relational aggression. Further, they indicated that, as predicted, girls were significantly more relationally aggressive than were boys. Results also indicated that relationally aggressive children may be at risk for serious adjustment difficulties (e.g., they were significantly more rejected and reported significantly higher levels of loneliness, depression, and isolation relative to their nonrelationally aggressive peers).     

A Developmental Perspective on Peer Rejection: Mechanisms of Stability and Change

This study examines factors associated with the relative stability of peer rejection among elementary school-aged children. Forty-four initially rejected children (some of whom improved their social status while others remained rejected over a 2-year period) were recruited from a larger sociometric sample. Prospective analyses were conducted to determine whether peer nominated aggression and children's perceptions of their own status in fourth grade were predictive of status improvement by the end of fifth grade. In addition to prospective analyses, initially rejected children and their mothers were invited to participate in a retrospective interview about their social experiences over the past 2 school years. Results of prospective and retrospective analyses suggested that perceived social status, participation in extracurricular activities, locus of control, and parental monitoring were all positively related to status improvement among initially rejected children. Surprisingly, aggressive behavior also was positively related to status improvement among initially rejected boys.     

Aggressive and nonaggressive rejected students: An analysis of their differences

The present study aimed to analyze differences between aggressive and nonaggressive rejected students in four sets of variables: personal, family, school, and social. Participants in the study were 843 Spanish adolescents ranging in age from 11 to 16 years old, of whom 47% were boys. Results indicated that these two subgroups of rejected students show a different profile. Aggressive rejected students informed of lower levels of family self‐esteem, less parental support, higher levels of aggression between their parents at home, and a more offensive parent–child communication in comparison with nonaggressive rejected adolescents. Moreover, aggressive rejected students showed lower levels of academic self‐esteem, a more negative attitude toward school and studies, poorer relationships with teachers, and more academic difficulties than did adolescents in the nonaggressive rejected subgroup. Finally, aggressive rejected students indicated the presence of more undesirable life events and changes in their lives and, in general, higher levels of perceived stress. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 387–400, 2006.     

Social attributional biases of peer-rejected and aggressive children

Peer-rejected high-aggressive, rejected low-aggressive, and non-rejected third- and fifth-grade boys were shown sets of drawn pictures differently balanced on Kelley's social dimensions of distinctiveness (i.e., depicting a hypothetical peer interacting with other children) and consistency (i.e., depicting the peer interacting with the subject) information. Following each set, a provoking incident involving the subject and peer was described in which the subject experienced a negative outcome and the peer exhibited ambiguous intent. When given no social information, rejected high-aggressive and rejected low-aggressive boys made more hostile attributions and suggested more hostile responses. When provided social information, however, all groups made similar attributions and weighted consistency information more heavily in their evaluations. All groups maintained a consistent response style across information conditions, with rejected high-aggressive boys suggesting the most aggressive responses. Implications for the treatment of childhood aggression are discussed.     

Characteristics of Aggressive-Rejected, Aggressive (Nonrejected), and Rejected (Nonaggressive) Boys

95 boys at 3 developmental levels (ages 6–8, 8–10, 10–12) were selected on the basis of sociometric and aggression ratings to represent 4 groups: (1) aggressive and rejected, (2) aggressive (not rejected), (3) rejected (not aggressive), or (4) neither aggressive nor rejected. Behavioral observations, teacher ratings, peer ratings, and open-ended peer interviews were collected to characterize the behaviors of these boys in 3 social domains (conduct problems, sociability/withdrawal, and adaptability/responsivity to peer expectations). Distinct problem profiles emerged. Aggressive-rejected boys exhibited more diverse and severe conduct problems that did aggressive boys, along with greater deficiencies in the domain of adaptability. Nonaggressive rejected children were considered by teachers and peers to be shy and passive, deficient in prosocial behaviors, atypical, and socially insensitive. Grade-level decreases in physical aggression and increases in peer-reported atypical/insensitive behaviors corresponded to developmental differences in group characteristics.     

小学生社会性适应的性别差异研究

为了考察小学生社会性适应的性别差异,研究选取小学二至六年级的儿童作为被试。采用修订的班级戏剧问卷和同伴提名法对儿童的积极社会行为、攻击冒犯行为、敏感退缩行为、师生关系和同伴接纳程度进行评定。结果发现：在社会行为上,女生表现出更多的积极社会行为和敏感退缩行为,男生则表现出较多的攻击冒犯行为。在师生关系上,女生更容易与教师建立亲密的关系,男生更易与教师建立冲突和依赖的关系。在同伴接纳上,女生受欢迎程度更高、男生受拒绝程度更高。     

儿童青少年的性别平等意识现状调查

本研究选取长春市8所学校的1 527名大、中、小学生为被试,通过自编问卷（性别观念调查问卷）对他们在学校领域、家庭领域、职业领域的性别平等意识进行了调查。结果表明：（1）在发展趋势上,小学生性别平等意识较低,中学阶段性别平等意识有所提高,但在大学阶段又重现下降趋势;（2）在性别差异方面,在各学段女生的性别平等意识显著高于男生,女生性别平等意识初中阶段最强,男生性别平等意识高中阶段最强;（3）在不同领域中,被试在职业领域的性别平等意识最低,家庭和学校领域的性别平等意识显著高于职业领域。根据研究结果,对性别平等教育提出了建议,指出小学和大学阶段是性别平等教育的重要时期,男生群体尤其需要性别平等意识的教育,职业领域的性别平等问题应成为教育重点。     

The Emergence of Chronic Peer Victimization in Boys' Play Groups

This investigation utilized a contrived play group procedure to examine the behavioral patterns leading to chronic victimization by peers in middle childhood. 30 play groups, each of which consisted of 6 unacquainted African-American 6-year-old or 8-year-old boys, met for 45-min sessions on 5 consecutive days. Play group interactions were videotaped and then examined. 13 boys who came to be chronically victimized by their play group peers were identified, along with matched nonvictim contrasts. Victims demonstrated lower rates of assertive behaviors, such as persuasion attempts and social conversation initiatives, and higher rates of nonassertive behaviors, such as submissions to peers' social initiatives, than contrasts. This nonassertive behavior pattern appears to have preceded the development of chronic victimization. Children who eventually emerged as victims were pervasively submissive, beginning in the initial 2 sessions. However, marked individual differences in victimization by peers did not become apparent until the final 3 sessions. These data provide evidence of strong linkages between submissive social behavior and the emergence of chronic victimization by peers.     

Aggressive Boys' Hostile Perceptual and Response Biases: The Role of Attention and Impulsivity

The present study addressed whether (1) aggressive boys show hostile biases or general deficits in social perception, (2) aggressive boys' social perceptual difficulties also characterize isolate and isolate-aggressive children, (3) aggressive, isolate, and isolate-aggressive boys' social perceptual difficulties are attributable to inattention and impulsivity, and (4) aggressive and nonaggressive boys differ in the links between social perception and proposed behavioral responses. Aggressive boys demonstrated hostile biases, but not general deficits, in intention-cue detection relative to average-status boys. Isolate-aggressive boys resembled aggressive boys in social perception, whereas isolate boys showed mild deficits relative to average-status boys. Although isolates' general deficits were predominantly accounted for by inattention and impulsivity, aggressives' and isolate-aggressives' hostile biases remained after these problems were statistically controlled. The aggressive groups proposed aggressive responses much more frequently than the nonaggressive groups following intentions perceived as nonhostile. Measures corresponding to several stages of Dodge's social information processing model discriminated the aggressive from nonaggressive groups, thus providing support for this model.     

Peer Status and Aggression in Boys'' Groups: Developmental and Contextual Analyses

The social transactions of popular, rejected, neglected, and average first- and third-grade boys were examined during their initial encounters with peers. 23 groups of 5 or 6 boys each were observed for 45-min free-play sessions conducted on 5 consecutive days, with sociometric interviews following each session. Social preference in the play groups correlated significantly with classroom social preference after the third and subsequent play sessions for the third graders, and after the fourth and subsequent sessions for the first graders. The observational coding system distinguished 4 types of aggressive behavior that were hypothesized to relate to peer status in different ways. The first, rough play, was not related to peer status. However, rejected boys at both ages displayed significantly higher rates of angry reactive aggression and instrumental aggression than average boys. The relation between bullying and peer status varied with the age of the child. Popular first graders engaged in more bullying than average first graders, but popular third graders did not differ from average in bullying. Other questions concerned the temporal relation between play group behaviors and social preference scores within the group. Socially interactive behaviors anteceded high preference by peers, and low preference in turn led to social isolation in subsequent sessions.     

When friends disappoint: boys' and girls' responses to transgressions of friendship expectations

In this study, the prevailing view that girls are pervasively more skilled in their friendships than boys was challenged by examining whether girls respond more negatively than boys when a friend violates core friendship expectations. Fourth- and fifth-grade children (n = 267) responded to vignettes depicting transgressions involving a friend's betrayal, unreliability, or failure to provide support or help. Results indicated that girls were more troubled by the transgressions, more strongly endorsed various types of negative relationship interpretations of the friend's actions, and reported more anger and sadness than did boys. Girls also endorsed revenge goals and aggressive strategies just as much as boys. These findings lead to a more complex view of boys' and girls' friendship competencies.     

Understanding the Distinctive Differences between Relationally and Physically Aggressive Behaviours Used in Early Childhood Contexts

Although there has been considerable research on the distinction between categories of relational and physical aggression, very little is known about the difference in nature of these behaviours. This study presented early childhood educators (N = 123) and parents (N = 112) with common relationally and physically aggressive behaviours, to determine whether item-level behaviours differ in prevalence, intervention and whether differentiated gender perceptions for each behaviour exist. Research Findings: Educators and parents reported observing and intervening in direct relationally aggressive behaviours more frequently compared to indirect relationally aggressive behaviours. Physical acts of aggression were reported more frequently compared to threats of physical aggression. Gender stereotypical perceptions of girls’ and boys’ aggression were evident, with boys being reported to engage in physical aggression more frequently. In comparison, relational aggression was more common in girls. At an item-level, there were some behaviours that educators identified both boys and girls using about equally. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight that meaningful differences exist between relationally aggressive and physically aggressive behaviours when examined at an item-level. A greater understanding of the most common behaviours used during early childhood will allow researchers, practitioners, and parents to focus their intervention efforts more specifically on these behaviours.     

Gender Differences in Children's Normative Beliefs about Aggression: How Do I Hurt Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

This research was designed to assess whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors (i.e., those behaviors labeled relational aggression in past research) as "aggressive." 2 studies were conducted to evaluate whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors as associated with 2 defining features of aggression, anger (Study 1) and intent to harm (Study 2). Results of Study 1 ( n = 459, 9–12-year-olds) indicated that relational aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for girls' interactions whereas physical aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for boys' interactions. Results of Study 2 ( n = 60, 9–11-year-olds) demonstrated that relational aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful behaviors for girls whereas physical aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful behaviors for boys. These studies provide the first evidence that children view relationally manipulative acts (relational aggression) as angry, harmful behaviors (i.e., as "aggressive").     

Social Information-Processing Mechanisms in Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Theories of aggressive behavior and ethological observations in animals and children suggest the existence of distinct forms of reactive (hostile) and proactive (instrumental) aggression. Toward the validation of this distinction, groups of reactive aggressive, proactive aggressive, and nonaggressive children were identified ( n = 624 9–12-year-olds). Social information-processing patterns were assessed in these groups by presenting hypothetical vignettes to subjects. 3 hypotheses were tested: (1) only the reactive-aggressive children would demonstrate hostile biases in their attributions of peers' intentions in provocation situations (because such biases are known to lead to reactive anger); (2) only proactive-aggressive children would evaluate aggression and its consequences in relatively positive ways (because proactive aggression is motivated by its expected external outcomes); and (3) proactive-aggressive children would select instrumental social goals rather than relational goals more often than nonaggressive children. All 3 hypotheses were at least partially supported.     

Susceptibility to peer influence during middle school: Links with social support,peer harassment,and gender

The present study explores concurrent relations between social support, gender, susceptibility to peer influence, and peer-based aggression and harassment in a socioeconomically and racially diverse sample of 774 seventh and eighth grade students. Results indicate that students perceiving lower support from their family or school were relatively more likely to be highly susceptible to peer influence, and to have friends who they believed were also highly susceptible to peer influence. Further, higher susceptibility to peer influence was associated with increased involvement in relational aggression and sexual harassment, both as a perpetrator and as a victim. Gender moderation effects were also found. The negative association of school support and susceptibility to peer influence was found greater in girls than boys. Girls who were highly susceptible to peer influence, or who had friends who were highly susceptible, had a relatively greater risk for involvement in relational aggression and sexual harassment, as compared with boys. Implications of these results for educators and school-based mental health professionals are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Trajectories of maternal verbal aggression across the middle school years: associations with negative view of self and social problems

Objective

The primary research objective was to explore the relationship between trajectories of maternal verbal aggression (VA) experienced by low-income, community middle school students across a three-year period and outcomes that have been found to be related to VA in previous work, including a negative view of self and social problems.

Method

Longitudinal data were collected from 421 youth (51.8% male) attending two middle schools over 3 years using a multiple-informant survey design. K-means cluster analysis was used to identify trajectories of VA using youth ratings of the Conflict Tactics Scale: Parent-Child (Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998). Dependent variables were self-reported depression, self-esteem, delinquency, and peer victimization as well as peer-rated aggression and sensitive-isolated reputation.

Results

Four trajectory groups of VA were identified: Low Stable, Increasing, Decreasing, and High Stable. The 3-year average occurrence of VA was: 1.31, 9.18, 10.24, and 31.14 instances, respectively. Gender-specific MANOVAs revealed dramatic differences between the High Stable and Low Stable groups. High Stable boys reported significantly more depressive symptoms, delinquency, peer overt and relational victimization, and were less likely to have a sensitive/isolated reputation than Low Stable boys. High Stable girls reported significantly more depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, delinquency, peer overt and relational victimization and were rated by peers as having more aggressive/disruptive and relationally aggressive reputations than Low Stable girls. Girls in the High Stable group were more likely than other youth to report levels of depressive symptoms and delinquency >1 SD above the mean, while boys in the High Stable group were more likely to report levels of delinquency >1 SD above the mean. The Increasing and Decreasing groups also demonstrated significantly poorer functioning than the Low Stable group on most outcomes. Growth curve analysis revealed that VA showed a contemporaneous association with self-reported delinquency suggesting these factors are closely related.

Conclusions

Any level of VA greater than the 1–2 instances per year reported by youth in the Low Stable group was associated with less favorable outcomes.     

Children's Social Goals and Self-Efficacy Perceptions as Influences on Their Responses to Ambiguous Provocation

This study examined whether children who vary in their behavioral responses (aggression vs. withdrawal vs. problem solving) to ambiguous provocation but who are similar in their attributional processes differ in their social goals and self-efficacy perceptions. In response to 10 hypothetical situations involving ambiguous provocation, fourth- and fifth-grade students ( n = 781) indicated whether or not the protagonist intended to cause the harm and reported how they would respond to the protagonist's action. Newly developed measures assessed children's situated social goals and self-efficacy perceptions. Results indicated that the aggressive, withdrawn, and problem-solving responders differed in their social goals and self-efficacy perceptions. The strength of the findings, compared to earlier work on children's goals and self-efficacy perceptions, suggests the importance of a situated social-cognitive assessment in which children's thoughts are measured in a specific kind of social situation and are related to their reported behavior in the same type of situation.