3-194 - Underlying Processes Associated with Social and Relational Aggression: Motivations, Normative and Peer Group Beliefs

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The purpose of this symposium is to examine the underlying processes associated with the use of social & relational aggression in adolescence. The first paper provides a qualitative examination of experiences with social aggression focusing on causes and outcomes. Results indicated that youth often described their aggression as a retaliatory act or as an expression of disapproval or distaste for a peer or the peer’s behavior while comments regarding status and fitting in were rare. The second paper focuses on similar issues from a quantitative perspective examining the underlying motivations for the use of social aggression. Consistent with the first study adolescents were found to endorse the desire for revenge and the desire for peer acceptance most highly while social image was endorsed much less. The relationships between motivations and behavior were moderated by normative beliefs such that average to high endorsement of the acceptability of social aggression increased the association. The third paper investigated the associations between relational aggression, bullying attitudes and perpetration. Multi-level modeling indicated that the peer group plays a prominent role in predicting relational aggression perpetration. Together these three studies suggest that prevention efforts need to recognize that both normative and peer group beliefs play an important role in determining whether or not youth will engage in these behaviors when motivated to do so. Without considering these underlying processes prevention programs will have limited ability to bring about reductions in social and relational forms of aggression.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Tina Daniels, Carleton University

Discussant

• Tina Daniels, Carleton University

Individual Presentations

• Young Adolescents’ Narrative Accounts of Their Own Social Aggression - Presenting Author: Lara Mayeux, University of Oklahoma; Karmon D Dyches, Universtiy of Oklahoma; Vanessa Leigh Michalik, University of Oklahoma; Tom Seidel, University of Oklahoma

• Underlying Motivations Reported for the Use of Social Aggression among Young Adolescents. - Presenting Author: Danielle H Quigley, Douglas College; Tina Daniels, Carleton University

• Relational Aggression Among Middle School Students: A Social Network Study - Presenting Author: Lisa De La Rue, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Dorothy Lynn Espelage, Univ of Illinois