The Bright and the Dark Side of Peer Relationships: Differential Effects of Relatedness Satisfaction and Frustration at School on Affective Well-Being in Children’s Daily Lives

Abstract

Satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological need for relatedness have been postulated to play a vital role for affective well-being. Yet, this prediction has not been thoroughly tested in school children’s everyday lives. In this work, we examined the association between relatedness satisfaction and frustration at school on daily and average positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) using ambulatory assessment in three intensive longitudinal studies with children aged 9-12. In Study 1, fourth to sixth graders reported their PA and NA two times daily and their relatedness satisfaction and frustration once a day for two weeks. In Study 2 (Study 3), fourth graders (fifth graders) reported their PA and NA four times daily and their relatedness satisfaction and frustration once a day for four weeks. Across the three studies, relatedness satisfaction and frustration were psychometrically separable and exhibited differential effects such that relatedness satisfaction was significantly associated primarily with PA, and relatedness frustration was significantly associated only with NA at between- and within-person levels. Explaining inter-individual differences suggested that the association between daily relatedness and affective well-being was weaker for generally highly integrated children and stronger for usually rather excluded children.