Rejected bullies or popular leaders? The social relations of aggressive subtypes of rural african american early adolescents

Teacher assessments of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify subtypes of rural African American early adolescents (161 boys and 258 girls). Teacher ratings of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify popular and unpopular aggressive subtypes for both boys and girls. Unpopular aggressive youths did not have elevated levels of rejected sociometric status but were more likely to have lower levels of peer-perceived social prominence and social skills. Conversely, popular aggressive youths were more likely to be disliked by peers even though they were perceived by peers as socially prominent and socially skilled and were identified by teachers as highly involved in extracurricular activities. Both popular and unpopular aggressive youths tended to associate with others who had similar levels of peer-perceived popularity.     

Personal values as a mediator between parent and peer expectations and adolescent behaviors.

The current study examined the mediating role of adolescents' personal values on the relation between maternal and peer expectations for prosocial behaviors and adolescents' self-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors. One hundred thirty-four adolescents (mean age = 16.22 years, 54% girls) completed measures of their own values and behaviors, as well as their perceptions of the positive expectations that their mother and their best friend(s) had for their (the adolescents') prosocial behaviors. Stepwise regression analyses suggested that adolescents' personal prosocial values mediated the relation between adolescents' perceptions of both maternal and peer expectations and adolescents' prosocial behaviors. In addition, for boys, perceptions of positive peer expectations were directly and negatively related to antisocial behaviors. The current study has important implications for parents, educators, and practitioners who are concerned about promoting adolescents' positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors.     

Development of social problem solving in early childhood: stability,change, and associations with social competence

Kindergarten and 1st-grade boys were administered social cognitive interviews in 2 consecutive years to investigate the response-generation step of N. R. Crick and K. A. Dodge's (1994) social information processing model. Boys generated responses to 4 types of hypothetical social dilemmas. Responses to these situations were primarily prosocial, with a large minority of avoidant and antisocial solutions. In general, older boys provided more effective solutions than did their younger peers, and stabilities were modest but significant for subcategories of both prosocial and antisocial responses. Boys who were accepted by their peers provided more prosocial and effective solutions than did boys of lower peer status, but no status differences emerged for antisocial responses. The data also suggest that young children view aggression as an acceptable means to solving peer conflict.     

Development of Social Problem Solving in Early Childhood: Stability,Change, and Associations With Social Competence

Kindergarten and 1st-grade boys were administered social cognitive interviews in 2 consecutive years to investigate the response-generation step of N. R. Crick and K. A. Dodge's (1994) social information processing model. Boys generated responses to 4 types of hypothetical social dilemmas. Responses to these situations were primarily prosocial, with a large minority of avoidant and antisocial solutions. In general, older boys provided more effective solutions than did their younger peers, and stabilities were modest but significant for subcategories of both prosocial and antisocial responses. Boys who were accepted by their peers provided more prosocial and effective solutions than did boys of lower peer status, but no status differences emerged for antisocial responses. The data also suggest that young children view aggression as an acceptable means to solving peer conflict.     

Doing good,doing harm,being well and burning out: The interactions of perceived prosocial and antisocial impact in service work

Service employees often perceive their actions as harming and benefiting others, and these perceptions have significant consequences for their own well‐being. We conducted two studies to test the hypothesis that perceptions of benefiting others attenuate the detrimental effects of perceptions of harming others on the well‐being of service employees. In Study 1, a survey of 377 transportation service employees and 99 secretaries, perceived prosocial impact moderated the negative association between perceived antisocial impact and job satisfaction, such that the association decreased as perceived prosocial impact increased. In Study 2, a survey of 79 school teachers, perceived prosocial impact moderated the association between perceived antisocial impact and burnout, and this moderated relationship was mediated by moral justification; the results held after controlling for common antecedents of burnout. The results suggest that perceptions of benefiting others may protect service employees against the decreased job satisfaction and increased burnout typically associated with perceptions of harming others. Implications for research on burnout, job satisfaction, positive organizational scholarship and job design are discussed.     

Social problem solving and strategy use in young children

In the present study, the authors investigated what prosocial-assertive, passive, and coercive strategies 6-year-olds (N=257) would propose in response to stories about 2 socially challenging situations: displacing another child in a game and obtaining a toy from another child. The scenarios also varied the gender composition of the characters. Participants' verbalizations while acting out their responses using toy props fell into 13 categories of strategies. Teachers reported antisocial behavior and social competence of the participants. Girls and boys responded similarly in their general suggestions of prosocial or assertive strategies, but girls were more likely to offer prosocial strategies with other girls than with boys. Teacher-rated competence and antisocial behavior interacted in predicting coercive responses by girls but not by boys. The results demonstrate that prosocial and antisocial behaviors need to be considered in interaction to fully understand the nature of social competence.     

High voice pitch mitigates the aversiveness of antisocial cues in men's speech

Speech contains both explicit social information in semantic content and implicit cues to social behaviour and mate quality in voice pitch. Voice pitch has been demonstrated to have pervasive effects on social perceptions, but few studies have examined these perceptions in the context of meaningful speech. Here, we examined whether male voice pitch interacted with socially relevant cues in speech to influence listeners’ perceptions of trustworthiness and attractiveness. We artificially manipulated men's voices to be higher and lower in pitch when speaking words that were either prosocial or antisocial in nature. In Study 1 , we found that listeners perceived lower-pitched voices as more trustworthy and attractive in the context of prosocial words than in the context of antisocial words. In Study 2 , we found evidence that suggests this effect was driven by stronger preferences for higher-pitched voices in the context of antisocial cues, as voice pitch preferences were not significantly different in the context of prosocial cues. These findings suggest that higher male voice pitch may ameliorate the negative effects of antisocial speech content and that listeners may be particularly avoidant of those who express multiple cues to antisociality across modalities.     

Children's responses to overt and relational aggression

Investigated children's responses for coping with overt and relational aggression. Children in Grades 3 through 6 (N = 491) in a rural Midwestern public school district completed a survey designed to assess how students cope when they are the targets of peer aggression. Children endorsed greater use of internalizing and distancing strategies for coping with relational aggression and greater use of externalizing strategies for coping with overt aggression. In addition, older children reported greater use of externalizing and less use of internalizing and distancing strategies than younger children. Significant differences were also found between boys and girls. Regardless of type of aggression, girls endorsed greater use of problem-solving and support strategies and less use of externalizing strategies than boys. Coping of high target children and of children who frequently received prosocial treatment from peers were also examined.     

The Relation of Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior to Personality and Peer Relationships of Hong Kong Chinese Adolescents

The prosocial and antisocial behaviors of 2,862 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents were investigated. The major findings were as follows: (a) boys were more antisocial than girls; (b) negative peer influences were significantly stronger in boys than in girls, whereas positive peer influences were significantly stronger in girls than in boys; (c) antisocial adolescents tended to perceive their best friend as antisocial and exerting more negative influences on them, whereas prosocial adolescents tended to perceive their best friend as prosocial and exerting more positive influences on them; (d) antisocial behavior was positively associated with psychoticism and neuroticism; and (e) academic achievement tended to have a positive relation with prosocial behavior and a negative relation with antisocial behavior.     

儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳的关系:社会行为的中介效应及其性别差异

在金华市和杭州市两所市区普通小学, 选取366名3~6年级儿童为被试, 采用同伴互评、同伴提名法和班级戏剧问卷, 考察了社会行为在小学儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳间的中介效应及其性别差异。结果表明:(1)总体而言, 亲社会行为、退缩行为在儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳间存在显著的中介效应, 而攻击行为的中介效应不显著;(2)社会行为的中介效应存在性别差异。女生的同伴信任对亲社会行为的预测、亲社会行为对同伴接纳的预测作用都显著高于男生, 使得女生亲社会行为的中介效应大于男生。男女生的同伴信任对退缩行为的预测作用没有性别差异, 但是男生的退缩行为对同伴接纳的预测作用显著高于女生, 使得男生退缩行为的中介效应大于女生。     

Childhood Social Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: Gender Differences in Predictive Accuracy and Efficacy

This study examined the ability of several childhood, school-based, social variables to correctly classify antisocial adolescents. Children (N = 314; 163 boys, 151 girls) in the 3rd–5th grade were assessed on academic and social variables (i.e., peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and low prosocial behavior) and followed forward for 6–7 years until the 9th and 10th grade. Adolescent antisocial outcomes included a consensus measure formed from diagnostic interviews, contact with juvenile authorities, adolescent self-report, and mother's report. The gender-differential predictive accuracy and efficacy of the early predictor domains to a consensus measure of antisocial behavior were compared with the same estimates found for adolescent self-report of antisocial behavior. Both gender and criterion-method differences were found. For girls, regardless of the measure of antisocial behavior, early academic problems were the strongest predictors of future problems. For boys' self-reported antisocial outcomes, peer rejection was the strongest independent predictor. For consensus-reported antisocial outcomes, both early fighting–anger and withdrawn behavior displayed equally strong predictive relations. For boys, the combination of early fighting–anger and disruptive and withdrawn behavior was the strongest set of predictors for the consensus measure of antisocial functioning. Predictive accuracy and efficacy estimates are discussed in terms of predictive strength as well as the cost–benefit of misidentification.     

The Psychology of the Child at Geneva and the J. J. Rousseau Institute

In the present study, the authors investigated what prosocial-assertive, passive, and coercive strategies 6-year-olds (N = 257) would propose in response to stories about 2 socially challenging situations: displacing another child in a game and obtaining a toy from another child. The scenarios also varied the gender composition of the characters. Participants' verbalizations while acting out their responses using toy props fell into 13 categories of strategies. Teachers reported antisocial behavior and social competence of the participants. Girls and boys responded similarly in their general suggestions of prosocial or assertive strategies, but girls were more likely to offer prosocial strategies with other girls than with boys. Teacher-rated competence and antisocial behavior interacted in predicting coercive responses by girls but not by boys. The results demonstrate that prosocial and antisocial behaviors need to be considered in interaction to fully understand the nature of social competence.     

Social Comparison and Body Image: Attractiveness Comparisons to Models and Peers Among Adolescent Girls and Boys

Relations among body image satisfaction and social comparisons to either same-sex peers or media models were examined in 2 studies of adolescent boys and girls. In the first study, 9th and 10th graders described their conceptions of attractiveness for same- and opposite-sex adolescents. These attractiveness attributes were then used in Study 2 in which 7th- and 10th-grade boys and girls reported on social comparisons to models/celebrities and same-sex peers. Body dissatisfaction was also assessed. The results confirmed that both same-sex peers and models/celebrities were the targets of social comparisons for physical attributes, but comparisons on personal and social attributes were more likely directed toward same-sex peers. For boys and girls, weight comparisons to both peer and model targets were primary correlates of body dissatisfaction. In addition, shape comparisons reported by the girls and facial comparisons endorsed by the boys also related to body dissatisfaction. Gender differences in social comparison indicated that girls reported more social comparisons across targets and attributes. Results are discussed in terms of the role of social comparison and peer context for body image during adolescence.     

Children's perceptions of gender discrimination

Children (N = 76; ages 5-10 years) participated in a study designed to examine perceptions of gender discrimination. Children were read scenarios in which a teacher determined outcomes for 2 students (1 boy and 1 girl). Contextual information (i.e., teacher's past behavior), the gender of the target of discrimination (i.e., student), and the gender of the perpetrator (i.e., teacher) were manipulated. Results indicated that older children were more likely than younger children to make attributions to discrimination when contextual information suggested that it was likely. Girls (but not boys) were more likely to view girls than boys as victims of discrimination, and children with egalitarian gender attitudes were more likely to perceive discrimination than were their peers.     

Forms and Functions of Intimate Play in Personal Relationships

Two studies are reported on intimate play in same-sex friendships and in opposite-sex romantic relationships. In Study 1, a typology of eight play forms was derived: private verbal coding, role-playing, teasing, prosocial physical play, antisocial physical play, games, gossiping, and public performances. Study 1 also modified the Betcher PQII paper-and-pencil measure of perceived playfulness for use in nonmarital relationships, finding playfulness a strong correlate of relationship closeness. Study 2 examined the multidimensional structure of the play typology, finding three underlying dimensions for the play forms: verbal versus nonverbal, antisocial versus prosocial, and assumed-identity versus self-identity. Study 2 also examined perceptions of the functions performed by the types of play, finding differences among the eight play forms on the functions of indexing intimacy, lessening interpersonal risk, distancing self from the interaction, and conflict management.     

Gender Differences in the Relationship of Puberty with Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms: Do Body Perceptions Matter?

This study explored how pubertal status is related to depressive symptoms among adolescent boys and girls and whether body perceptions explained this relationship. This study is based on a national random US sample of adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (9,011 girls and 8,781 boys). Results showed that boys and girls responded differently to puberty. During the transition to puberty boys had higher depressive symptoms than post-pubertal boys, due to perceptions that they were not as physically large and developed as their peers. Pre-pubertal and post-pubertal boys did not significantly differ on depressive symptoms. Post-pubertal girls had higher depressive symptoms than pre-pubertal girls, due to perceptions that they were overweight and more physically developed than their peers.     

Aggression and prosocial behaviors in social conflicts mediating the influence of cold social intelligence and affective empathy on children's social preference

This study proposes a model in which aggressive and prosocial behaviors exhibited in social conflicts mediate the influence of empathy and social intelligence to children's social preference by same‐sex peers. Data were obtained from kindergarten to the end of the first grade. The sample yielded 117 Spanish children (64 girls and 53 boys) with a mean age of 62.8 months (SD = 3.3) at the beginning of the study. For boys, affective empathy contributed to boys’ social preference through a decrease in physical aggression as responses to social conflict. For girls, affective empathy had an indirect effect on girls’ preference by increasing assistance to others in their conflicts. No mediating effect in the contribution of social intelligence on girls’ social preference was detected. Our results suggest that, only for girls, cold social intelligence can promote both indirect aggression (coercive strategic that do not leave social preference, at least at these ages) and behaviors that lead social preference (such as prosocial behaviors).     

Q-sort assessment of attachment security during the preschool years: links from home to school

This study investigated relations among preschoolers' secure-base behavior with mother at home, stressful family conditions, and qualities of developing relationships with peers and teachers in preschool. Preschool-age children (N = 94; 51 boys and 43 girls) and their mothers were observed during multiple home visits, and their security of attachment was assessed with the Attachment Q-Set. Children in families with lower levels of stress had more secure attachment relationships with mothers. Both boys and girls who were less securely attached to their mothers expressed significantly more anger-aggression in preschool. For boys, higher levels of family stress were also significantly related to anger-aggression and to social competence in preschool. In addition, boys who were more securely attached to their mothers were more securely attached to their preschool teachers and were more popular with peers in preschool.     

Social psychological processes in family and school: more evidence on their relative etiological significance for bullying behavior

This study looked at students' perceptions of the three socialization processes of connection, regulation, and autonomy with their parents and teachers, and the relation of these issues to bullying peers. Self-reported data were collected from a representative sample of Norwegian eighth graders (N=2,083, 1,010 boys, and 1,073 girls). Findings partially confirm our hypotheses that we generated from earlier research into general antisocial behavior. For both genders, parent regulation and teacher regulation had a direct impact on bullying behavior. Parent connection and teacher connection also had an impact on bullying behavior, but these effects were indirect and were mediated by regulation and autonomy from parents and teachers. Some of the socialization processes had different impacts on bullying behavior for boys and girls. Parent autonomy and teacher autonomy had impact (although weak) on bullying behavior for boys only. In general, the variables related to the parents were of more importance for bullying behavior than the variables related to the teachers.     

Personal and social bases of children's self-concepts about physical movement

This project examined the personal and social bases of children's self-concepts about physical movement. Children completed the Movement Assessment Battery, ASK-KIDS self-concept inventory, personal and social self-categorizations. Participants were girls and boys from 5 to 12 years old. Study 1 (N=242) confirmed that the ASK-KIDS self-concept inventory could be extended to physical movement for younger and older girls and boys. In Study 2 (N=42), self-concepts about movement were not necessarily associated with actual performance and personal self-categorizations about oneself as a 'bookish' or 'sporty' person. In contrast, self-concepts about physical movement were associated with social self-categorizations regarding age and sex. Study 3 (N=70) confirmed the social basis of children's self-concepts about movement. Self-concepts about physical movement were associated with children's sense of belonging and not with a sense of individuality. The findings have implications for the design of programs that motivate children to participate in physical activities.