Dynamic pathways between rejection and antisocial behavior in peer networks: Update and test of confluence model

Abstract

The confluence model theorizes that dynamic transactions between peer rejection and deviant peer clustering amplify antisocial behavior (AB) within the school context during adolescence. Little is known about the links between peer rejection and AB as embedded in changing networks. Using longitudinal social network analysis, we investigated the interplay between rejection, deviant peer clustering, and AB in an ethnically diverse sample of students attending public middle schools (N = 997; 52.7% boys). Adolescents completed peer nomination reports of rejection and antisocial behavior in Grades 6–8. Results revealed that rejection status was associated with friendship selection, and adolescents became rejected if they were friends with others who were rejected. Youth befriended others with similar levels of AB. Significant patterns of peer influence were documented for AB and rejection. As hypothesized, rejected youth with low AB were more likely to affiliate with others with high AB instead of similarly low AB. In contrast, nonrejected youth preferred to befriend others with similarly high or low AB. Results support an updated confluence model of a joint interplay between rejection and AB as ecological conditions that lead to self-organization into deviant clusters in which peer contagion on problem behaviors operates.

Peer Influence during Adolescence: The Moderating Role of Parental Support

“…So too does identifying factors that may exacerbate the effects of best friend symptoms of psychopathology. Several individual child and peer relationship factors have been previously implicated as protective (e.g., sex, self-regulation skills, friendship quality) [ 5 , 27 , 28 ] or as risk (e.g., peer rejection) [ 29 ] factors. However, research on the potential moderating effects of parental support on the relation between friend symptoms of psychopathology and youths’ psychopathology has been surprisingly limited.…”

An antisocial alchemy: Psychopathic traits as a moderator of the different forms and functions of aggression in delinquency and conduct disorder among youth

“…Highly aggressive youth sooner than later create fatigue among more normatively behaved peers, who after repeated exposure to aggressive acts, simply disengage from their more aggressive peers. However, peer rejection and social exclusion are likely not state dependent experiences, but instead occur in a process manner over time (Coie, Lochman, Terry, & Hyman, 1992;Kornienko, Ha, & Dishion, 2020;Laird, Jordan, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2001). Relational aggression thus reflects socially inappropriate ways for highly aggressive peers to manage social relationships before they close permanently.…”

Peer rejection as a precursor of romantic dysfunction in adolescence: Can friendships protect?

“…We examine romantic relationships at eleventh grade because past research documents elevated rates of dating aggression among 15‐ to 18‐ year‐olds compared to younger age groups (Taylor & Mumford, 2016). Recognizing that adolescents' aggressive behavior at the start of middle school may set in motion subsequent escalations in peer rejection (Coie et al, 1990; Kornienko, Ha, & Dishion, 2019) and romantic difficulties (Ellis & Wolfe, 2015; Ha, Otten, McGill, & Dishion, 2019), and may also account for continued aggressive behaviors, we control for students’ aggressive behavior as rated by teachers during sixth grade. We hypothesized that adolescents who experienced increasing rejection across middle school would exhibit more aggression and less support in their eleventh‐grade romantic relationships, even after accounting for baseline levels of aggression in middle school.…”