Understanding Mechanisms of Change in the Development of Antisocial Behavior: The Impact of a Universal Intervention (original) (raw)
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Müller, C. & Minger, M. (2013). Which children and adolescents are most susceptible to peer influence? A systematic review regarding antisocial behavior. Empirische Sonderpädagogik, 2, 107-129.
Negative peer influence is one of the main risk factors associated with antisocial development among children and adolescents. In order to better understand these processes and to develop adequate preventive interventions, it is crucial that the factors that moderate peer influence are recognized. Such moderating variables can indicate who is at especially high risk of being negatively influenced by peers, and which conditions can buffer this negative impact. In order to structure the existing evidence, a systematic review of all longitudinal studies on this topic published up to and including 2011 is presented. The results from the 66 studies included in the review show that the influence of peers on the development of an individual’s antisocial behavior depends on different personal, psychological, and social-contextual conditions. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for prevention strategies and future research initiatives.
Child Development, 2007
This study examined variation in friendship formation and friendship stability as a function of children's and their friends' victimization, overt aggression, and relational aggression. Participants were 605 pre-and early adolescents in fifth through eighth grades (M age = 12.05) assessed twice over a three-month period. Scores for stability and acquisition of same-sex reciprocated friendships were derived from unlimited friendship nominations. Peer nominations provided scores for child and friend victimization and aggression. Only victimized children experienced difficulty forming new friendships, evidence of their persistent social problems. Dissimilarity between friends on relational aggression (all children) and victimization (girls only) predicted friendship termination, however; overtly aggressive children had difficulty maintaining friendships regardless of their friends' aggression. These findings point to the importance of considering the relational context (characteristics of children and their friends) and gender when assessing friendship stability.
Antisocial Behavior and Affiliation With Deviant Peers
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2004
Examined the associations among gender, antisocial behavior and peer group affiliation in a high-risk sample of 401 homeless and matched housed adolescents (139 boys and 262 girls). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (Version 2.3, 1991; Costello et al., 1982) yielded 2 measures of adolescent antisocial behavior: symptoms of conduct disorder and substance abuse or dependence. Various deviant behaviors of friends were assessed based on adolescent selfreport. Results indicated that, for both boys and girls, having many deviant peers was associated with more antisocial behavior, regardless of the number of boys in the peer network. Further, findings suggest that the relationship between number of deviant peers and antisocial behavior may be stronger for boys and homeless adolescents than for girls and housed adolescents, respectively. The results of prior studies indicating that antisocial behavior is a function of affiliation with male peers may be due to the higher frequencies of maladaptive behaviors evidenced in boys in normative samples.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 2014
Peer rejection and deviant peer affiliation are linked consistently to the development and maintenance of conduct problems. Two proposed models may account for longitudinal relations among these peer processes and conduct problems: the (a) sequential mediation model, in which peer rejection in childhood and deviant peer affiliation in adolescence mediate the link between early externalizing behaviors and more serious adolescent conduct problems; and (b) parallel process model, in which peer rejection and deviant peer affiliation are considered independent processes that operate simultaneously to increment risk for conduct problems. In this review, we evaluate theoretical models and evidence for associations among conduct problems and (a) peer rejection and (b) deviant peer affiliation. We then consider support for the sequential mediation and parallel process models. Next, we propose an integrated model incorporating both the sequential mediation and parallel process models. Future research directions and implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.
Best Friendships, Group Relationships, and Antisocial Behavior in Early Adolescence
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 1999
Correlations between adolescents' own antisocial behavior and adolescents' perceptions of the antisocial behavior of their best friends and friendship groups were examined in this study. The strength of those correlations was expected to vary as a function of the qualities of the dyadic friendships and group relationships. Perceptions of peers' antisocial behavior and dyadic friendship and group relationship qualities were collected through interviews with 431, 12-through 13-yearold adolescents. Measures of adolescents' concurrent and subsequent antisocial behaviors were obtained from the adolescents and their teachers. Adolescents who perceived their friends and groups as participating in antisocial behavior had higher self-reported and teacher-reported antisocial behavior ratings. Perceptions of best friend antisocial behavior were correlated more strongly with adolescents' own concurrent, but not subsequent, antisocial behavior when high levels of help, companionship, and security characterized dyadic friendships. The results are discussed in terms of peer influence and friendship selection processes.
Child Development, 2005
This study addressed gender differences in the developmental links among antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection. High and increasing, moderate, and low antisocial developmental trajectories were identified among 289 Dutch children, ages 7 to 10, and 445 French-Canadian children, ages 9 to 12. Only boys followed the high trajectory. These boys had more deviant friends and were more often rejected than other children. A minority of girls followed the moderate antisocial behavior trajectory. These girls had fewer deviant friends than moderate antisocial boys, but moderate antisocial boys and girls were equally likely to be rejected. The influence of friends and poor peer relations plays a crucial but different role in the development of antisocial behavior among boys and girls.
Journal of Community Psychology, 2007
This study examined the relationships between prosocial involvement (PI), antisocial peer affiliations (APA), and the degree of their overlapping or independent prediction of behavior problems in urban adolescents. Two dimensions of behavior were assessed at ages 9–11 and at ages 13–15: disruptive, aggressive conduct and number of delinquent behaviors in the past year. Participants were 167 urban boys and girls with multiple early childhood risk factors. APA predicted higher rating of aggressive conduct and more delinquent behaviors at ages 13–15 beyond the effects of earlier behavior problems. PI predicted lower rates of delinquent behavior but not aggressive conduct. A portion of the influence of PI on delinquent behavior was independent and a portion overlapping with APA. High PI moderated the positive relationship between APA and delinquent behavior, consistent with a protective effect. Interventions that promote PI are unlikely to substantially reduce associations with antisocial peers but may prove beneficial for youths with many antisocial friends by reducing contagion effects that promote delinquency. Other implications for prevention efforts are also considered. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 417–434, 2007.
Journal of Adolescence, 2014
Prosocial behaviors, actions intended to help others, may serve a protective function against association with deviant peers and subsequent delinquent and antisocial behaviors. The present study examined the relations among specific types of prosocial behaviors, deviant peer affiliation, and delinquent and aggressive behaviors. Six hundred and sixty-six adolescents (46% girls; M age = 15.33, SD = .47) from Valencia, Spain completed questionnaires of prosocial behaviors, affiliation with deviant peers, antisocial behaviors, and aggression. Results showed that antisocial behaviors were negatively related only to specific forms of prosocial behaviors. Further analyses showed that deviant peer affiliation mediated the relations between compliant prosocial behavior and delinquency and aggression. Although altruism was not directly related to delinquency and aggression, it was indirectly linked to the behaviors via deviant peer affiliation.
Child Development, 2005
This study tests the hypothesis that, during adolescence, antisocial behavior becomes positively associated with peer acceptance. This hypothesis was tested considering both classroom and out-of-class peer relations. Data from a previously published study, with a cross-sectional sample of 577 Italian 11-to 13-year-olds, were used. Analyses showed that in the 6th grade antisocial behavior was negatively related to classroom peer preference, but not significantly related to out-of-class peer inclusion. By the 8th grade, antisocial behavior was positively related to out-of-class peer inclusion, but not significantly related to classroom peer preference. Similar results were found for males and females. The higher level of peer acceptance among the 8th grade antisocial individuals was primarily due to nominations received by other antisocial individuals.