What Does It Mean to Say That Aggressive Children Are Competent or Incompetent?

In contrast to the view that the association between aggression and competence (i.e., the capacity to compete in the company of others) is negative and linear, the present papers indicate that (a) children whose level of aggression is moderately above the mean show the highest level of competence whereas competence is lowest in children who show no signs of aggression or whose aggression is high and undifferentiated; (b) that the association between aggression and competence is moderated by the function the aggression serves; and (c) that moderately aggressive children are given status within the peer system even though other children do not typically like them. The association between aggression and competence needs to be understood according to basic aspects of group process such as dominance, resource control, and regulation of retaliatory gestures between group members. Although children who show moderate levels of aggression may be given status and power within the peer group, it does not mean they are adjusted or that they will receive or benefit from the affection or kindness from their peers

The Study of Sex, Gender, and Relationships with Peers: A Full or Empty Experience?

Studies of friendship, sex, and gender come in many forms and address a set of questions that are as broad as the study of friendship itself. The papers in this special issue reveal gender differences in the features, processes, and outcomes related to friendship. This commentary aims to place these papers within the broader literature on peer relations. We show that each of these studies is just a beginning, however, as basic points about the origins and meanings of sex and gender effects deserve further focus and scrutiny. Suggestions are offered to promote the further development of research on sex, gender, and relationships with peers

THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RISK FACTORS AND PEER VICTIMIZATION IN COLOMBIAN EARLY ADOLESCENTS/ EFECTOS MODERADORES DE LA HABILIDAD DE SOLUCIÓN DE PROBLEMAS SOCIALES EN LA RELACIÓN ENTRE FACTORES DE RIESGO Y VICTIMIZACIÓN EN ADOLESCENTES COLOMBIANOS/ EFEITOS MODERADORES DA HABILIDADE DE SOLUÇÃO DE PROBLEMAS SOCIAIS NA RELAÇÃO ENTRE FATORES DE RISCO E VITIMIZAÇÃO EM ADOLESCENTES COLOMBIANOS

This study assessed the moderating effect of social problem-solving (SPS) in the association between risk factors and peer victimization in a sample of Colombian adolescents. Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study assessed the extent to which changes in victimization varied as a function of the interaction between risk factors and social problem-solving. Results showed that both aggression and avoidance were predictive of initial scores on victimization, but only avoidance was found to predict its change over time. Only a main effect of SPS was found at the beginning of the year; no moderating effects were found. Results are consistent with previous findings by confirming that avoidance and aggression are risk factors for peer victimization

Recent advances in the study of development, social and personal experience, and psychopathology

The field of developmental psychopathology has been challenged by various issues in understanding the link between social experiences and psychopathology. These challenges involve conceptual, methodological and statistical concerns that are often interrelated. This article examines four advances in resolving these concerns. First, co-rumination and deviancy training are discussed as specific interpersonal processes that are examples of important social experiences for predicting psychopathology. Second, dynamic properties of dyadic interaction are discussed as one of the recent advances in methodology for this area. Third, the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model is outlined as one of the recent statistical advances in the study of individuals within a dyad. Fourth, changes in the study of culture are presented as informing the understanding link between social experiences and developmental psychopathology

Reactivity and Distortions in the Self: Narcissism, Types of Aggression, and the Functioning of the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis During Early Adolescence

A multisample, multistudy project aimed at understanding how individual differences in narcissism during early adolescence are related to distortions in the aggression, and the reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis to negative and positive experiences. The findings indicate that individual differences in narcissism are a remarkably stable aspect of personality during early adolescence. It is predictably related to an inflated view of the self that is not warranted by objective indices of social functioning. Further evidence shows that it promotes the continuity of aggressive behavior and is more strongly related to reactive aggression than to proactive aggression and more strongly related to relational aggression than to physical aggression. Finally, there is evidence that distortions in the self may derive from the inadequate functioning of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, one of the body’s main response system for dealing with stress. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes by which early adolescents react to threats and arousal in their daily functioning

The Presence of a Best Friend Buffers the Effects of Negative Experiences

The goal of the current study was to examine how the presence of a best friend might serve as protection against the effect of negative experiences on global self-worth and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA axis). A total of 103 English-speaking male (n = 55) and female (n = 48) participants from Grade 5 (M = 10.27 years) and Grade 6 (M = 11.30 years) completed booklets about their experiences that occurred 20 min previously and how they felt about themselves at the moment, and they provided saliva multiple times per day over the course of 4 consecutive days. Having a best friend present during an experience significantly buffered the effect of the negativity of the experience on cortisol and global self-worth. When a best friend was not present, there was a significant increase in cortisol and a significant decrease in global self-worth as the negativity of the experience increased. When a best friend was present, there was less change in cortisol and global self-worth due to the negativity of the experience

Crianza y comportamiento moral: un modelo mediacional

En este estudio se buscaba evaluar si el comportamiento de los padres se relaciona con la conducta moral de sus hijos preadolescentes y si algunos atributos psicológicos de los hijos median dicha relación. Para realizar este análisis se evaluó la percepción que tienen 114 niños y niñas de diferentes niveles socioeconómicos sobre la crianza (apoyo, control firme y control restrictivo) y el modelo moral (prosocial y transgresivo) que reciben de sus padres. Además se obtuvo información sobre la conducta moral de los hijos (prosocial y transgresiva), su responsividad emocional vicaria y su autovaloración. Los resultados de los análisis mostraron que el control restrictivo y el modelo de conducta moral de los padres se relacionan con la conducta moral de sus hijos y que dicha relación, en particular la del modelo moral, se encuentra mediada por la autovaloración y la simpatía

Thick Description of the Teacher-student Relationship in the Educational Context of School: Results of an Ethnographic Field Study

Complexities of essential aspects of the teacher-student relationship were identified in a group of German adolescents and their teachers through participant observation. It is already known that the determinants of the teacher-student relationship cannot be simply categorized and analyzed as univariate features. Using Clifford Geertz’s concept of “thick description,” empirical data were collected during a six-month field study at a secondary school in the south of Germany. Thematic analyses of the extant empirical database identified six sociological principles that constitute fundamental components of the teacher-student relationship: power, dualism, solidarity, productivity, sympathy, and identity. Analyses showed that meaningful ritualized structures limit teachers and students to institutional roles that are incongruent with the general aim of having productive interactions in educational settings. The complexity of educational settings can only be grasped if the teacher-student relationship is understood as an interpersonal process. When reduced to their institutional roles, both teachers and students experienced their relationship and educational settings as unsatisfactory

Context-Dependent Peer Victimization: Are physical and relational aggression tolerated differently in mixed-sex versus all-girl schools?

Contextual differences in the association between different forms of aggressive behavior and victimization were studied with a sample of 197 boys and 149 girls from mixed-sex schools and in 336 girls from all-girl schools (M = 10.21 years of age) in two cities in Colombia. Results showed that boys generally engage in more physical than relational aggression, whereas girls engage in more relational than physical aggression. Among boys, the association between aggression and victimization was significant only for the measure of relational aggression, whereas, for girls, victimization was significantly correlated only with physical aggression. This latter association was found to be significantly stronger for girls from the all-girl schools than for the girls from the mixed-sex schools. These findings are discussed in terms of how mixed-sex and same-sex groups, as different forms of peer context, affect the social dynamics related to the association between aggression and victimization

The moderating effects of social problem-solving in the relationship between risk factors and peer victimization in colombian early adolescents/ efectos moderadores de la habilidad de solución de problemas sociales en la relación entre factores ...

This study assessed the moderating effect of social problem-solving (SPS) in the association between risk factors and peer victimization in a sample of Colombian adolescents. Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study assessed the extent to which changes in victimization varied as a function of the interaction between risk factors and social problem-solving. Results showed that both aggression and avoidance were predictive of initial scores on victimization, but only avoidance was found to predict its change over time. Only a main effect of SPS was found at the beginning of the year; no moderating effects were found. Results are consistent with previous findings by confirming that avoidance and aggression are risk factors for peer victimization