Children’s Positive Peer Relationships and their Bullying Behaviors: A Latent Profile Analysis

In the current study, I aim to expand upon traditional methods for classifying children based on positive peer nominations and contribute to the field’s understanding of high-status bullies who maintain social resources despite bulling behaviors (e.g., van der Ploeg et al., 2020). Both reciprocated and one-sided (i.e., received and sent) positive peer nominations were used to distinguish socially meaningful subgroups. Participants included 659 children from 34 classrooms (M Age = 9.31 years, SD = .49 years; girls = 50.6%; Hispanic/Latino/a/x = 42.5%, White/European American = 29.9%, Black/African American = 2.3%, Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander = 11.7%, Native American = 2.3%, Bi/Multiracial = 8.2%, Other or Missing = 4.6%). Results from latent profile analyses (LPA) indicated a 4-class solution best fit the data. Examination of classes and outcomes revealed a class of children with many reciprocated/received and few sent nominations who were more likely to be girls and generally better adjusted (e.g., less depressive symptoms and more prosocial) compared to other classes. A second class was characterized by few reciprocated/received and many sent nominations. Children in this class were less well-adjusted compared to other classes. Also identified was a class high on both reciprocated and sent nominations with few received nominations, and an average class with similar levels of reciprocated, received, and sent nominations. Classes did not differ as a function of self-reported bullying behavior; however, differences did emerge as a function of peer-reported bullying behavior. Results, implications, and future directions are discussed

The Role of Positive Affect and Grit in Broadening Cognition

Experiences of positive emotion have been shown to broaden cognitive thinking, creativity, and problem solving. This study examines two moderating variables in the relationship between positive emotions and broadened cognitions. First, this study examines scores of positive affect as a personality attribute which may influence an individual’s reception of positive emotions. Second, this study examines grit as a variable that could improve creative problem solving skills in a psychological state broadened by positive priming. These moderating variables feature in the two hypotheses of this study, namely, that high levels of positive affect will improve task performance with and without the presence of a prior positive stimulus, and that high grit levels will predict improved creative task performance in the presence of prior positive priming. Two hundred participants will be prescreened for high or low positive affect and grit and then randomly assigned to one of two conditions. One condition exposes participants to a neutral film and the other to a film clip eliciting positive emotion. Participants in both conditions will then complete a creative cognitive task. This study predicts that high positive affect levels will decrease problem solving task time in both the positive priming condition and the neutral condition. This study also predicts high levels of grit will decrease problem solving time in the positive priming condition only. Understanding the underlying dynamics of this relationship is critical to psychology’s understanding of optimal cognitive functioning, productivity, and happiness