Aggression and the Failure of Friendship to Buffer Against Loneliness

Do children’s attributions of their friends’ aggressive behaviors matter? In short, yes, children’s attributions of their mutual friends’ aggressive behaviors do matter in terms of children’s reports of loneliness. The goal of the present research was to examine how children’s perceptions of their mutual friends’ aggressive behaviors related to loneliness after controlling for peer group factors (i.e. peer liking, peer popularity, number of mutual friends, and the child’s own level of aggression) known to contribute to loneliness. Self-report measures of loneliness, friendship nominations, and classroom nominations for liking, popularity, and aggression were collected from 185 third through sixth grade children. Preliminary analyses revealed that children do in fact attribute aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. Both boys (n = 89) and girls (n = 96) were equally likely to ascribe relationally aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. However, differential patterns emerged with respect to overt aggression. Boys were more likely than girls to ascribe overtly aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. Moreover, boys were more likely to attribute overtly aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends than relationally aggressive behaviors.Attributions of relationally aggressive behavior were related to an increase in loneliness, even after controlling for other peer factors related to loneliness. However, attributions of overtly aggressive behavior were unrelated to children’s reports of loneliness. Moreover, gender did not moderate the relation between attributions of overt or relational aggression and loneliness. In sum, attributions of friends’ aggression are related to children’s reports of loneliness but differentially with respect to type of aggression

Youth\u27s Adjustment to Cancer: Examination of Patterns of Adjustment and the Role of Peers

Little research has examined the heterogeneity of patterns of emotional adjustment for a pediatric oncology population, nor is the nature of peer relations for youth’s adjustment to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer well understood. To address these gaps in the literature the adjustment of 279 youth (cancer group, n = 156, control group, n = 123), each with one parent, and one teacher, was evaluated. Youth completed measures of posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic growth, and perceived positive changes. Youth, parents, and teachers reported on youth’s peer relations. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles. The majority of youth (42.1%) fell into a “resilient-high-growth” profile, which was characterized by low distress and perceptions of positive change/growth. Approximately one fifth (21.4%) of youth fell into a “resilient-low-growth profile,” described by low levels of both distress and positive growth/change. The remainder of youth (36.5%) fell into a “mildly-distress-with-growth” profile; those youth experienced mild distress and positive growth. Youth’s peer relations, demographic factors, and disease-related factors predicted assignment to profiles. Interactions between group status (cancer vs. healthy comparison) and peer related factors were not statistically significant for predicting adjustment profiles. The lack of significant interactions between group status and peer relations for predicting profile adjustment class suggests that peer relations function similarly for promoting adjustment across cancer and healthy comparison groups. The present findings highlight that, similar to findings with non-oncology populations, peer relations serve an important role in youth’s adjustment to stressful life events

Adolescent Reactions to Maternal Responsiveness and Internalizing Symptomatology: A Daily Diary Investigation

A daily diary methodology was employed to gather teens’ perceptions of maternal responsiveness to daily stressful events and teens’ reactions to maternal responsiveness in a diverse sample (792 entries from 104 teens; 81% African American, mean age 13.7 years). Additionally, parents and teens completed baseline reports of internalizing symptoms. Diary findings were congruent with prior studies employing self-report measures of global maternal responses to emotion (e.g., higher probability of Accepting reactions to supportive responses, higher probabilities of Attack, Avoid-Withdraw reactions to non-supportive responses). Elevated baseline internalizing symptoms were related to perception of elevated Punish and Magnify responses during the week, and more Avoidant (Avoid-Withdraw and Avoid-Protect) reactions to responsiveness. Results are discussed in the context of reciprocal emotion socialization processes