Popularity Goals and Beliefs about Popularity as Predictors of Bully Assisting, Reinforcing, and Defending

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Popularity is highly desired in adolescence(Sijtsema et al., 2009). During adolescence, many individuals associate popularity with aggressive behaviors (Othof & Goossens, 2007). Further, defending behaviors decline in adolescence (Salmivalli, Voeten & Poskiparta, 2011), while bullying behaviors rise and this seems to co-occur with desires to be popular (Lafontana & Cillessen, 2010). However, there is likely variation in these associations as beliefs about what determines popularity may vary as well. The current study sought to examine how beliefs about the determinants of popularity would moderate how popularity goals were predictive of bullying and defending behaviors. We hypothesized that, for youth who think that prosocial behavior is a determinant of popularity, popularity goals would be positively associated with defending behavior. In contrast, for youth who believe that aggression is a determinant of popularity, we hypothesized that popularity goals would be positively associated with assisting and reinforcing bullying.
The sample included 234 seventh and eighth grade students from the Southern United States (60. 3% female; 20.5% of the sample identified as being from a historically underrepresented group). During in-school data collection sessions, participants completed the Popularity Goals Questionnaire (PGQ; Wright et al., 2012), the Participant Role Questionnaire to assess bullying roles (Salmivalli et al., 1996), and the Popularity Determinant Scale (modified from Li et al., 2012) which assessed beliefs about how certain behaviors contribute to peer popularity.
A series of regression analyses were conducted examining the main effects and interactions of popularity goals and beliefs about the determinants of popularity on adolescents’ self-reported defending, assisting, and reinforcing behavior. The regression analyses examining defending behaviors found only a main effect of beliefs about prosocial behavior determining popularity and this effect was not moderated by popularity goals. Goals to be popular were not related to defending behavior. However, popularity goals were positive predictors (see Table 1) in analyses predicting bullying reinforcing and bullying assisting behaviors. Beliefs about what might determine popularity were not related to bullying reinforcing and assisting nor did these beliefs moderate the effects of popularity goals.
The results of this study found that valuing popularity is associated with self-reported reinforcing and assisting bullying and that it did not matter if adolescents thought that aggression or prosocial behavior increased popularity. Conversely, thinking that prosocial behavior increased popularity was predictive of defending no matter if teens wanted to be popular or not. Thus, it seems that there are different social cognitive factors that are uniquely related to bullying and defending. Future bullying prevention and intervention work should consider the effects of popularity goals on promoting bullying in schools and also consider how ideas about what makes one popular may support defending behavior.

Authors

• Katie Sandstrum, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Presenting Author

• Kristina Lynne McDonald, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sunmi Seo, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Non-Presenting Author