Poster #113 - Making Enemies: Predicting the Formation of Mutual Antipathies

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Introduction
Childhood enemies are frequently discussed in popular literature. Despite the attention they command in the public imagination, we know very little about how enemies, formally known as mutual antipathies, begin. Mutual antipathies are based on reciprocated disliking. At any given time, approximately 30% of children and adolescents are involved in at least one mutual antipathy (Card, 2010). The aim of the proposed study is to identify the origins of mutual antipathy formation during the late childhood and early adolescent years. To this end, I will conduct a discrete-time survival analysis to identify individual and dyadic attributes that predict involvement in mutual antipathies.
Method

Participants will include 372 students (193 female, 179 male) who attended a public primary and middle school required to represent, in ethnicity and income, the public-school population of Florida. The total included 3rd graders (8-9 years-old), 4th graders (10-11 years-old), 5th graders (11-12 years-old), 6th graders (12-13), and 7th graders (13-14). Surveys were administered in class in three-time points during a single academic year. Participants completed a standard peer nomination survey consisting of a roster of participants from which students identified classmates who best fit each description. Popularity, Unpopularity, Impulsiveness, disruptiveness, aggression, athleticism, and school achievement were measured with a single item. At each time point, participants nominated an unlimited number of disliked classmates (“Who don't you like to spend time with?”) from rosters that included the names of all participants in the class. Enemies were defined as dyads in which both partners nominated each other as disliked.
Results
A logistic regression was conducted to ascertain the effects of dyadic differences of popularity, athleticism, and school achievement on the emergence of enmities. The analyses are designed to predict the rate and timing of enemy formation from differences between members in each dyad. The logistic regression model was statistically significant, X2 (13 ,N= 2708) = 25.080, p = .023. The odds of gaining an enmitiey is increased by 19% for every additional increase popularity difference scores (95% CI [.096 – .288]). The odds of gaining an enmitiey is increased by 14% for every additional decrease in athleticism difference scores (95% CI [.06 – .021]).
Discussion
Figure 1 will depicts the concept for the individual model. Results indicate that Time 1 undesirable traits resulted in individuals to be more more apt to be involved in enemy relationships than other children. Figure 2 the concept for the dyadic model. Differences between enemies on popularity predicted the occurrence and timing of the emergence of antipathies. Enmities were more likely to be formed due to differences in popularity and athleticism, individual levels of these variables did not predict enmitiy formation. These findings suggest that enmnity formation is primarily a dyadic process

Authors

• Michael Joseph Yoho, Florida Atlantic University
  Presenting Author

• Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University