The Role of Reporter and Context in the Quadratic Associations of Popularity with Proactive Aggression

• In Event: Proactive Aggression in Childhood and Early Adolescence

Abstract

In the past years, studies have suggested that proactive aggression (aggression that is unprovoked and goal‐oriented; Volk, et al., 2014) might benefit youth in terms of gaining and maintaining status among peers in the form of popularity. Using aggression strategically may eliminate competitors, demonstrate one’s power over others, and thus help to secure an influential position within the peer group. However, the tendency to use aggression proactively may not increase gradually with increasing popularity. Instead, it generally is only used by a small group of youth who already have high levels of popularity.

Previous research has indeed showed that popularity is quadratically related to reactive and proactive aggression (Prinstein & Cillessen, 2003; Stoltz, et al., 2016), as nominated by peers. The aim of the current study was to extend our understanding of how popularity relates to proactive aggressive behavior in two ways. First, it examines the (quadratic) association between popularity and proactive aggression when proactive aggression is reported by another source than peers (self, teacher, observations). Second, it broadens the scope by observing proactive aggression (i.e. coercive resource control) in a cooperative and a competitive context, thereby examining the possibility that proactive aggression is particularly defining of highly popular youth in a specific context.

Participants were 182 early adolescents (58.2% girls, Mage = 10.7 years), who completed peer nominations of popularity (most popular, least popular), reactive and proactive aggression (Stoltz et al., 2016) and self-reports of coercive Resource Control Strategies (RCS) (Olthof et al., 2001). They were also observed during a cooperative and a competitive task in groups of four, and in both contexts their behavior was coded for coercive RCS (Lansu et al., 2020). Their teachers also rated them on coercive RCS use.

In addition to demonstrating a quadratic association between reactive aggression and popularity, results show (see Table 1 and Figure 1) that type of reporter matters for the association between popularity and proactive aggression. According to peers, proactive aggression resides only in highly popular youth, with unpopular and average youth being equally low in proactive aggression. Teacher-reports show increasing proactive aggression with higher popularity across the whole popularity spectrum. Observations suggest that context matters. Proactive aggression in the form of coercive resource control is associated with popularity in a linear fashion in the competitive context, but in a quadratic fashion in a cooperative context, indicating that in a cooperative context only youth high in popularity engage in proactive aggression.

By distinguishing between different proactive strategies, using multiple sources of information, and by taking context into account, this study provides a more complete understanding of the association between popularity and proactive aggression. All reports (except for the self-reports) agree that youth high in popularity use the most proactive aggression, but some reporters differ on whether unpopular and average youth are different or similar in levels of proactive aggression. Moreover, engaging in coercive proactive aggression when the context does not require you to do so, may be a key element that defines the proactive aggression of highly popular youth.

Author

• Tessa A. M. Lansu, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
  Presenting Author