Profiles of School-Based Peer Aggression: A Person-Centered Approach

• In Event: Roundtable Session 43
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Social Emotional Learning Through Assessment, Profiling, and Mediation

Abstract

Peer aggression among school-age children is a common problem, however there is a lack of understanding about what places children at risk for involvement. In the present study using a large national longitudinal study, we utilize Latent Class Analysis to define profiles of aggression among third grade children. We found four distinct profiles of aggression: high verbal targets, high physical aggressors/ moderate blended targets, uninvolved, high verbal aggressors/high blended targets. Analyses revealed that compared to children who are uninvolved, children who report being targets/aggressors have higher rates of externalizing behaviors. Additionally, children who report being victims who are physically aggressive are more likely to be male. Our results demonstrate that there are unique profiles of peer aggression.

Authors

• Courtney Anne Zulauf, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Katherine M. Zinsser, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Amanda Roy, University of Illinois at Chicago