Poster #227 - Gender Differences in the Relation of Mutual Friends and Friendship Quality to Classroom Aggression

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Classroom aggressive behaviors have been consistently shown to relate to psychosocial maladjustment across a variety of social competence measures. Although gender differences are widely reported and friendship relationships are implicated as important in this research, little work has directly assessed how classroom aggressive behaviors are associated with gender using multiple assessments of friendship relationships and different forms of aggression. The present research examined the association between children’s a) number of mutual friends and b) their perceptions of the quality of their relationship with their closest friend, to classroom peer nominated aggressive behaviors. Gender differences were assessed as were different forms of classroom aggressive behaviors (overt and relational).
Children (Grades 3-5, 8 classrooms; males = 74, females = 85; middle SES families) participated (IRB approved) in group sessions. Using the Revised Class Play procedure (Masten, Morrison, & Pellegrini, 1985) overt and relational aggression classroom behavior nominations (unlimited nominations; no self-nominations) were collected on classroom rosters. Children identified classmates they believed exhibited overt (4 items) or relational (3 items) behaviors. Friendship quality was assessed using the Friendship Qualities Scale (Bukowski, Boivin, and Hoza, 1994). Children indicated the name of their very best friend and rated the quality of the relationship with that friend. As often used, a total score was calculated from these responses. Number of mutual friends was determined by having children identify friends on a classroom roster (unlimited nominations). Number of mutual friends (reciprocated nominations), overt aggression nominations, and relational aggression nominations were each standardized by classroom to control for differences in class size.
A multi-group (Group = Gender) path analysis was conducted (Mplus 7.4; see Figure) to explore the relation between children’s a) perception of their friendship quality and number of mutual friends to b) overt and relational aggression peer behavior nominations. Results indicated a different pattern of association between variables for boys and girls. For boys only, friendship quality was positively related to both overt and relational aggression. Also for boys only, number of mutual friends was negatively related to overt aggression. Results did not indicate any statistically significant patterns for girls.
In sum, gender, nature of friendship assessment, and form of classroom aggression appear to have complex associations. Boys who were viewed as less aggressive (overt) by peers had more mutual friends, consistent with a great deal of research. Interestingly, the positive association of friendship quality to both overt and relational aggression for boys indicates that aggressive boys believe they have higher friendship quality than their less aggressive peers. It is possible, of course, that this represents wishful thinking rather than reality. For girls, neither the number of mutual friends nor friendship quality was related to aggression. This suggests a disconnect between evaluation of close relationships and the use of aggression for girls. Further analyses are being performed to explore the nature of these gender differences.

Authors

• Robert Washington, The University of Memphis
  Presenting Author

• Samantha Newman, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert Cohen, The University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author