Co-occurring Trajectories of Direct Aggression and Prosocial Behaviors in Childhood: Longitudinal Associations with Peer Acceptance

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Peer acceptance, which refers to the degree of likability within a child’s peer group, has been found to forecast positive adjustment outcomes across childhood and adolescence (Ladd, 2005). Research on aggression and prosocial behavior indicates that children’s behavioral styles have a significant impact on their peer acceptance; such that, aggressive children have lower levels of peer acceptance (Card et al., 2008), and prosocial children exhibit higher rates of peer acceptance (Caprara et al., 2014). However, these associations may differ under certain conditions, and some aggressive children can maintain higher levels of peer acceptance.
The aims of the present study were: 1) to examine the co-occurring developmental trajectories of direct aggression and prosocial behaviors from middle to late childhood, and (2) to assess how variations in these behavioral trajectories were associated with continuity and changes in children’s peer acceptance. For Aim 1, the developmental trajectories of aggression and prosocial behaviors were examined separately; then, co-occurring trajectory classes were inspected. For Aim 2, the development (continuity and changes) in peer acceptance for each subgroup identified in Aim 1 was assessed. The effects of gender, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity were controlled.
The sample consisted of 784 children (47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American; about 65% low SES) recruited in Grade 1 (Mage = 6.57) and followed through Grade 4. Teacher reports of prosocial behavior and peer reports of direct aggression and peer acceptance were collected annually. All measures exhibited adequate psychometric properties and internal reliability.
Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was performed to examine patterns of continuity and change in children’s aggression and prosocial behaviors. First, aggression and prosocial behaviors were examined independently from Grades 1 to 4 (see Figure 1 for the trajectories and proportion of children in each class). Then, GMM was specified to assess the co-occurring development of aggression and prosocial behavior, and six co-occurring classes were identified. These co-occurring classes differentiated children who were primarily aggressive or prosocial (four classes: high-aggressors, moderate-aggressors, high-prosocial, moderate-prosocial) from those who exhibited a combination of these two behavioral styles (two classes: high aggression-moderate prosocial; moderate aggression-prosocial). Finally, conditional latent growth models were used to examine the development of peer acceptance based on these co-occurring trajectories (Figure 2). Findings supported the protective effect of prosocial behavior; however, elevated rates of direct aggression were persistently associated with lower peer acceptance.
The findings of this longitudinal study contribute to our understanding of the association between children’s co-occurring direct aggression and prosocial behaviors with their peer acceptance in middle childhood, and the potential protective effects of prosocial behavior. The results also have implications for school-based intervention for reducing children’s aggression. These programs should consider the differentiation between aggressive children. For example, although social skills training programs may be effective for aggressive children with low prosocial behaviors, the use of more holistic approaches may be necessary for aggressive children who are capable of being prosocial but chose to use aggression.

Authors

• Minoo Mohammadi, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Presenting Author

• Idean Ettekal, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Non-Presenting Author