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- All Subjects: Adolescent Friendships
- Creators: Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky
Description
It is widely recognized that peer-directed aggression and victimization are pervasive social problems that impact school-aged children and adolescents. This study investigated the developmental course of aggression and victimization, and more specifically, addressed three primary aims. First, distinct subgroups of children were identified based on similarities and differences in their physical, verbal and relational aggression and victimization. Second, developmental stability (and instability) were assessed by examining the extent to which individuals remain (or change) subgroups throughout childhood and adolescence. Third, group classifications and transitions over time were assessed as a function of children’s individual characteristics and their relational and contextual experiences.
The sample for this longitudinal study consisted of 482 children (50% females) who were followed over time from grades 1 to 11. Multiple-informant data on children’s physical, verbal and relational aggression and victimization (peer-reports), individual characteristics including emotion dysregulation, withdrawn behaviors (teacher-reports), and hostile and self-blaming attributions (self-reports), and their relational and contextual experiences including peer rejection, friendships, social hierarchy and classroom aggression (peer-reports) were assessed in grades 1, 5, 8, and 11. Data analyses primarily consisted of a series of person-centered methods including latent profile and latent transition analyses.
Most of the identified subgroups (e.g., aggressors, victims and aggressive-victims) were distinguishable by their frequencies (i.e., levels) of aggression and victimization, rather than forms (physical, verbal and relational), with the exception of one group that appeared to be more form-specific (i.e., relational aggressive-victims). Among children in each group there was a modest degree of intra-individual stability, and findings elucidated how some groups appeared to be more stable than others as well as developmental differences. Although group stability was fairly common across all groups, and over time, patterns of instability also emerged.
The combination of trends reflecting both stability and instability support the perspective that the development of aggression in childhood and adolescence is characterized by heterogeneity. In contrast to perspectives that highlight the individual stability of aggression (e.g., that it is a stable behavioral style or individual disposition), findings elucidate the individual, relational and contextual mechanisms by which developmental stability and instability were more pronounced.
The sample for this longitudinal study consisted of 482 children (50% females) who were followed over time from grades 1 to 11. Multiple-informant data on children’s physical, verbal and relational aggression and victimization (peer-reports), individual characteristics including emotion dysregulation, withdrawn behaviors (teacher-reports), and hostile and self-blaming attributions (self-reports), and their relational and contextual experiences including peer rejection, friendships, social hierarchy and classroom aggression (peer-reports) were assessed in grades 1, 5, 8, and 11. Data analyses primarily consisted of a series of person-centered methods including latent profile and latent transition analyses.
Most of the identified subgroups (e.g., aggressors, victims and aggressive-victims) were distinguishable by their frequencies (i.e., levels) of aggression and victimization, rather than forms (physical, verbal and relational), with the exception of one group that appeared to be more form-specific (i.e., relational aggressive-victims). Among children in each group there was a modest degree of intra-individual stability, and findings elucidated how some groups appeared to be more stable than others as well as developmental differences. Although group stability was fairly common across all groups, and over time, patterns of instability also emerged.
The combination of trends reflecting both stability and instability support the perspective that the development of aggression in childhood and adolescence is characterized by heterogeneity. In contrast to perspectives that highlight the individual stability of aggression (e.g., that it is a stable behavioral style or individual disposition), findings elucidate the individual, relational and contextual mechanisms by which developmental stability and instability were more pronounced.
ContributorsEttekal, Idean (Author) / Ladd, Gary W (Thesis advisor) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Jager, Justin (Committee member) / Kochel, Karen P (Committee member) / Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Sibling relationships are important units of socialization during adolescence. These involuntary relationships consist of positive and negative relationship qualities (Buist & Vermande, 2014; Deater-Deckard et al., 2002; Updegraff et al., 2005a), and some dimensions of these relationships are less understood than other dimensions. One dimension in need of attention is that of sibling relational victimization, which includes behaviors aimed at harming one’s sibling relationship during a period in which interpersonal relationships are developmentally salient (Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Crick, 1995; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). In my dissertation, I examine the associations between family and friendship dynamics and sibling relational victimization longitudinally during adolescence. In study 1, I examined the developmental change in sibling relational victimization experiences during adolescence, and tested the associations between parent-youth and sibling conflict and intimacy and sibling relational victimization longitudinally. Sibling structural characteristics were explored as moderators. Using longitudinal growth and multi-level modeling, I found that sibling relational victimization decreased across adolescence for both siblings, with younger siblings reporting higher frequency of sibling relational victimization relative to older siblings. On a general level, parent-adolescent and sibling intimacy and conflict were associated with sibling relational victimization, albeit in different ways for mixed- and same-gender dyads and older and younger siblings. Overall, findings from study 1 highlight the importance of examining parent-youth and sibling relationship dynamics, the vulnerability of younger siblings as victims of sibling relational victimization, and the interplay of sibling gender dynamics and father-youth relationships on sibling relational victimization experiences in adolescence.
In study 2, I examined whether sibling relational victimization and negativity moderate the associations between parent-adolescent conflict and friendship control, conflict, and perspective taking in adolescence. Variation by sibling birth order and gender also was explored. Using path analytic models, I found that mother-adolescent, sibling, and friendship dynamics were interlinked, such that mother-adolescent conflict in combination with sibling negativity and sibling relational aggression were associated with friendship outcomes, albeit differently by sibling gender and friendship outcome. Findings from study 2 suggest the importance of addressing negative mother-adolescent and sibling relationship dynamics in prevention and intervention curricula aimed at promoting positive friendship dynamics during adolescence.
ContributorsSarama, Annabella Gallagher (Author) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Thompson, Marilyn (Committee member) / Bradley, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021