Selection and Socialization of Aggressive and Prosocial Behavior: The Moderating Role of Social‐Cognitive Processes

Abstract

This study evaluated the extent to which fourth‐grade students (M age = 8.62) select and are influenced by their peers' aggressive and prosocial behavior and the extent to which intra‐individual social cognitions moderate these processes. Two waves of data were collected in the fall and spring of one academic year from children attending 18 New York City public elementary schools. Stochastic actor‐based social network analysis was used to evaluate whether participants modify their network or behavior in response to the behavior of their peers. Findings support an average main effect of peer influence of aggression, as well as an interaction indicating that participants with high levels of hostile attributional bias have higher odds of adopting the aggressive behavior of their peers.

The development of adolescents’ friendships and antipathies: A longitudinal multivariate network test of balance theory

“…Lastly, prosocial and antisocial behavior are important behaviors that are strongly related to adaptation in the adolescent peer context (see e.g., Logis et al, 2013;Molano et al, 2013;Sijtsema et al, 2010), and, as such, they are important for the development of positive and negative relationships with peers. In the present study, adolescents similar in prosocial and antisocial behavior became friends with each other (i.e., homophilous selection), and adolescents high on prosocial and antisocial behavior received more friendship nominations of peers (i.e., they were highly popular in terms of friendship affiliation).…”

Aggressive and Prosocial? Examining Latent Profiles of Behavior, Social Status, Machiavellianism, and Empathy

“…Increasingly, studies demonstrate that aggressive and prosocial behaviors are intimately embedded in social relationships, playing functional roles within the peer ecology (Berger and Rodkin 2012;Molano et al 2013;Rodkin et al 2013;Sijtsema et al 2009). Social status has, therefore, received much attention, namely the roles of social preference and perceived popularity.…”

Seeing and being seen: Predictors of accurate perceptions about classmates’ relationships

“…In the United States, children ages 6 to 12 are estimated to spend over thirty hours per week in school (Hofferth, 2009; Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001) and interact with the same classroom peers daily (Gifford-Smith & Brownell, 2003). The structure of these classroom peer networks has been linked to a variety of positive and negative behaviors including aggression (e.g., Ahn, Garandeau, & Rodkin, 2010; Farmer & Xie, 2007; Molano, Jones, Brown, & Aber, 2013; Neal & Cappella, 2012), and academic engagement and motivation (e.g. Cappella, Kim, Neal, & Jackson, 2013; Kindermann, 1993).…”