Peer Rejection and Social Information-Processing Factors in the Development of Aggressive Behavior Problems in Children (original) (raw)
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Development and Psychopathology, 2010
This study tested a developmental cascade model of peer rejection, social information processing (SIP), and aggression using data from 585 children assessed at 12 time points from kindergarten through Grade 3. Peer rejection had direct effects on subsequent SIP problems and aggression. SIP had direct effects on subsequent peer rejection and aggression. Aggression had direct effects on subsequent peer rejection. Each construct also had indirect effects on each of the other constructs. These findings advance the literature beyond a simple mediation approach by demonstrating how each construct effects changes in the others in a snowballing cycle over time. The progressions of SIP problems and aggression cascaded through lower liking, and both better SIP skills and lower aggression facilitated the progress of social preference. Findings are discussed in terms of the dynamic, developmental relations among social environments, cognitions, and behavioral adjustment.
Peer rejection and aggression and early starter models of conduct disorder
2002
Peer rejection and aggression in the early school years were examined for their relevance to early starting conduct problems. The sample of 657 boys and girls from 4 geographical locations was followed from 1st through 4th grades. Peer rejection in 1st grade added incrementally to the prediction of early starting conduct problems in 3rd and 4th grades, over and above the effects of aggression. Peer rejection and aggression in 1st grade were also associated with the impulsive and emotionally reactive behaviors found in older samples. Being rejected by peers subsequent to 1st grade marginally added to the prediction of early starting conduct problems in 3rd and 4th grades, controlling for 1st grade ADHD symptoms and aggression. Furthermore, peer rejection partially mediated the predictive relation between early ADHD symptoms and subsequent conduct problems. These results support the hypothesis that the experience of peer rejection in the early school years adds to the risk for early starting conduct problems.
Effect of Children's Perceived Rejection on Physical Aggression
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2000
This study investigated whether the perception of self as socially rejected might contribute to increased physical aggression among elementary-school children. It was hypothesized that physically aggressive children would become more physically aggressive over time if they perceived that they were rejected and tended to blame peers for social failure experiences. Third-grade boys and girls (n = 941) were assessed in the Fall and Spring of the school year. Peer-report data on physical aggression and social preference were collected, along with self-report data on perceived rejection and attributions for social failure experiences. Results for boys were consistent with hypotheses, whereas the results for girls revealed a different pattern of relations. These results constitute prospective evidence that children's self-perceptions of social rejection can uniquely influence externalizing behavior. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms that might mediate the relation between perceived rejection and physical aggression.
Social Cognitive Differences Between Aggressive–Rejected and Aggressive–Nonrejected Children
Journal of School Psychology, 2000
This study investigated differences in social cognitive processing between two subtypes of aggressive children: those rejected by their peers and those not rejected. Children in Grades 2-4 classified as aggressive-rejected (AR; n ϭ 34), aggressivenonrejected (AN; n ϭ 55), or nonaggressive-nonrejected (NN; n ϭ 64) on the basis of teacher ratings of aggression were administered the Social Cognitive Assessment Profile (SCAP). Descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA; aggressive vs. nonaggressive) replicated the previous finding that aggressive children have a broad range of social cognitive deficits and distortions and provided additional evidence of the criterion validity of SCAP scores. Three-group DDA (AR, AN, NN) indicated that AN children were more likely than AR children to believe that aggression leads to positive outcomes, and were more confident in their ability to use aggression toward a peer. The pattern of social cognitive differences between AR and AN children was similar to that typically found between proactively and reactively aggressive children. Aggressive children who are not also peer-rejected appear to have a distinct pattern of social cognitive biases that reflect antisocial beliefs likely to support the use of aggression to obtain desired goals. Effective interventions for these children may need to target underlying motivations as well as on-line processing skills.
Children's Awareness of Peer Rejection and Teacher Reports of Aggressive Behavior
Psychosocial Intervention 28(1) 37-47, 2019
Lack of awareness of one’s negative social reputation is linked to aggressive behavior among older school-age children. The present study extends this research to the first year of elementary school. The first goal was to compare generalized and dyadic perspectives in studying discrepancies between children’s actual and perceived rejection. The second goal was to determine whether discrepancies between actual and perceived rejection are related to sociometric status. The third goal was to examine whether discrepancies between actual and perceived rejection are related to aggressive behaviors at school. Actual peer rejection was measured with peer negative nominations, perceived peer rejection with students’ self-ratings and meta-perceptions, and aggressive behavior with teacher ratings. The discrepancies between actual and self-perceived rejection were substantial in the total sample. Furthermore, non-rejected children had higher scores than rejected children in dyadic overestimation (identifying peers who they believed disliked them but did not), while it was the reverse for dyadic underestimation (not identifying peers who in fact disliked them). High levels of dyadic underestimation were negatively associated with the concurrent aggressive behavior. Rejected children’s underestimation of their peer rejection appeared to have protective effects on antisocial and aggressive problems. Findings are discussed in terms of theories of symbolic interactionism and social information processing.
Biased Self-Perceptions, Peer Rejection, and Aggression in Children
Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2011
This study examined whether children's biased self-perceptions of peer acceptance are associated in a linear or curvilinear fashion with aggression, whether associations are moderated by peer rejection status, and whether associations apply uniquely to reactive aggression. Children in the 4th through 7th grades completed a self-report measure on their social functioning (SPPC; Harter 1982), and teachers reported on children's social functioning and aggression. Self-perceptual bias was operationalized as the standardized residual difference between children's selfperceptions and their teachers' perceptions of their peer acceptance. Rejected status moderated associations between biased self-perceptions and reactive aggression. Among nonrejected children, biased perceptions were not significantly associated with reactive aggression. In contrast, among peerrejected children, reactive aggression was elevated in those who greatly underestimated as well as in those who even modestly overestimated their peer acceptance. This pattern was observed whether or not proactive aggression was statistically controlled. In contrast, biased self-perceptions were not associated with proactive aggression for rejected or nonrejected children. Implications are discussed with regard to future research and potential interventions for aggressive children.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2009
This study examined relations among emotional self-regulation, peer rejection, and antisocial behavior in a sample of 122 boys from low-income families who participated in a summer camp and were followed longitudinally from early childhood to early adolescence. Emotional selfregulation strategies were coded in early childhood from a waiting task, measures of peer rejection were collected during middle childhood at the summer camp, and reports of antisocial behavior were obtained during early adolescence. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine longitudinal relations among these constructs, with results supporting a negative association between use of active distraction and peer rejection and a positive association between peer rejection and antisocial behavior. Furthermore, an indirect effect of active distraction on antisocial behavior was found through peer rejection. Thus, adaptive selfregulation strategy use in early childhood demonstrated direct longitudinal relations with peer rejection and an indirect association with antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Results have implications for early prevention and intervention efforts to foster adaptive self-regulation of emotion and reduce risk for later social problems and delinquency.
Childhood peer rejection and aggression as predictors of stable patterns of adolescent disorder
Development and Psychopathology, 1995
The significance of childhood peer rejection and aggression as predictors of adolescent disorder was tested on 1147 children who were followed longitudinally from Grade 3 through Grade 10. Growth curve analyses of parent- and self-reported problems suggested that boys who were both aggressive and rejected in third grade had profiles of increasingly severe internalizing and externalizing problems across three assessment points in adolescence. Other groups showed either decreasing symptom patterns from Grade 6 to 10 or had consistently lower problem profiles. The longitudinal patterns were more complex for the girls. Childhood peer rejection was the only predictor of stable disorder as reported by parents, whereas self-reported externalizing problems were best predicted by childhood aggression.