Peer Relationship and Children’s Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Cross-Lagged Regression Analysis

Abstract

Abstract: The present study explored the direction of the relationship between peer relationship and children’s reactive and proactive aggression. By using cluster sampling method, 1380 children from grade 1 to grade 5 of a primary school in Nankai District, Tianjin were studied. Two waves of data collection were conducted in April 2017 and January 2018 respectively, which had an eight-month interval. Peer relationship was measured by peer nomination. The head teacher reported children’s reactive and proactive aggression. The results show that: 1) social preference and children’s reactive aggression negatively predicted each other; 2) social preference negatively predicted children’s proactive aggression, but proactive aggression did not predict their social preference. The results have theoretical significance to reveal the direction of the relationship between peer relationship and aggressive behavior. The conclusions have practical value to the prevention and treatment of children’s aggressive behaviors.

Key words: reactive aggression, proactive aggression, peer relationship, development stage

摘要： 探究同伴关系与儿童反应性和主动性攻击之间关系的方向性。采用整群抽样法，以天津市南开区某小学一到五年级1380名儿童为研究对象。前后进行了两次数据采集，间隔为8个月。采用同伴提名测量儿童的同伴关系，并以社会偏好作为同伴关系的指标；班主任通过问卷报告儿童的反应性和主动性攻击。结果显示：（1）社会偏好与儿童的反应性攻击相互负向预测；（2）社会偏好负向预测儿童的主动性攻击，但主动性攻击并不预测其社会偏好。研究结果对揭示同伴关系和攻击行为关系的方向性有理论意义，对不同类型攻击行为的预防和治疗有实践价值。

关键词: 反应性攻击, 主动性攻击, 同伴关系, 发展阶段

CLC Number:

B844

ZHOU Guangdong, ZHOU Guangmin. Peer Relationship and Children’s Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Cross-Lagged Regression Analysis[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2021, 19(5): 620-627.

周广东, 周广敏. 同伴关系与儿童的反应性和主动性攻击：交叉滞后分析[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2021, 19(5): 620-627.

References

纪林芹, 高敏, 张良, 潘斌, 张文新. (2020). 青少年早期身体攻击与关系攻击的异质性共发模式、稳定性及其与同伴关系的联系. 心理科学, 43(5), 1095–1102
纪林芹, 潘斌, 郭菲, 陈亮, 张文新. (2017). 青少年抑制控制与同伴拒绝: 身体攻击、关系攻击的中介作用. 心理科学, 40(3), 600–605
Card, N. A., & Little, T. D. (2006). Proactive and reactive aggression in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analysis of differential relations with psychosocial adjustment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30(5), 466–480.
Chen, X. Y., Huang, X. R., Wang, L., & Chang, L. (2012). Aggression, peer relationships, and depression in Chinese children: A multiwave longitudinal study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(12), 1233–1241, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02576.x.
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(4), 557–570, doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.18.4.557.
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1990). Peer group behavior and social status. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 17–59). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crick, N. R., Murray-Close, D., Marks, P. E. L., & Mohajeri-Nelson, N. (2011). Aggression and peer relationships in school-age children: Relational and physical aggression in group and dyadic contexts. In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (pp. 287–302). New York: Guilford Press.
Dodge, K. A., & Coie, J. D. (1987). Social-information-processing factors in reactive and proactive aggression in children’s peer groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1146–1158.
Dollard, J., Miller, N. E., Doob, L. W., Mowrer, O. H., & Sears, R. R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Evans, S. C., & Fite, P. J. (2019). Dual pathways from reactive rggression to depressive symptoms in children: Further examination of the failure model. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(1), 85–97.
Evans, S. C., Fite, P. J., Hendrickson, M. L., Rubens, S. L., & Mages, A. K. (2015). The role of reactive aggression in the link between hyperactive-impulsive behaviors and peer rejection in adolescents. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46(6), 903–912.
Evans, S. C., Frazer, A. L., Blossom, J. B., & Fite, P. J. (2019). Forms and functions of aggression in early childhood. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 48(5), 790–798.
Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (2007). Pathways from proactive and reactive aggression to substance use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21(3), 355–364, doi: 10.1037/0893-164X.21.3.355.
Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (2008). Developmental trajectories of proactive and reactive aggression from fifth to ninth grade. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37(2), 412–421.
Gagnon, J., & Rochat, L. (2017). Relationships between hostile attribution bias, negative urgency, and reactive aggression. Journal of Individual Differences, 38(4), 211–219.
Guimond, F. A., Brendgen, M., Correia, S., Turgeon, L., & Vitaro, F. (2018). The moderating role of peer norms in the associations of social withdrawal and aggression with peer victimization. Developmental Psychology, 54(8), 1519–1527, doi: 10.1037/dev0000539.
He, J., Koot, H. M., Buil, J. M., & van Lier, P. A. C. (2018). Impact of low social preference on the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms: Buffering by children’s prosocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(7), 1497–1507, doi: 10.1007/s10802-017-0382-6.
Jiang, T. L., & Chen, Z. S. (2020). Relative deprivation: A mechanism for the ostracism-aggression link. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(2), 347–359.
Kamper-DeMarco, K. E., & Ostrov, J. M. (2019). The influence of friendships on aggressive behavior in early childhood: Examining the interdependence of aggression. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 50(3), 520–531.
Ladd, G. W. (1983). Social networks of popular, average, and rejected children in school settings. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29(3), 283–307.
Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2010). Developmental cascades of peer rejection, social information processing biases, and aggression during middle childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 22(3), 593–602, doi: 10.1017/S0954579410000301.
Marsee, M. A., & Frick, P. J. (2007). Exploring the cognitive and emotional correlates to proactive and reactive aggression in a sample of detained girls. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35(6), 969–981.
Moore, C. C., Hubbard, J. A., Bookhout, M. K., & Mlawer, F. (2019). Relations between reactive and proactive aggression and daily emotions in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(9), 1495–1507.
Parker, J. G., Rubin, K. H., Erath, S. A., Wojslawowicz, J. C., & Buskirk, A. A. (2015). Peer relationships, child development, and adjustment: A developmental psychopathology perspective. In Developmental psychopathology (Vol. 1, 2nd ed., pp. 419–493). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Price, J. M., & Dodge, K. A. (1989). Reactive and proactive aggression in childhood: Relations to peer status and social context dimensions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 17(4), 455–471, doi: 10.1007/BF00915038.
Rohlf, H., Busching, R., & Krahé, B. (2017). Longitudinal links between maladaptive anger regulation, peer problems, and aggression in middle childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 63(2), 282–309, doi: 10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.63.2.0282.
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2007). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 571−645). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Sameroff, A. (2009). The transactional model. In A. Sameroff (Ed.), The transactional model of development: How children and contexts shape each other (pp. 3–21). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Schaller, M., Simpson, J. A., & Kenrick, D. T. (2006). Evolution and social psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
Stoltz, S., Cillessen, A. H. N., van den Berg, Y. H. M., & Gommans, R. (2016). Popularity differentially predicts reactive and proactive aggression in early adolescence. Aggressive Behavior, 42(1), 29–40, doi: 10.1002/ab.21603.
Vitaro, F., Boivin, M., & Poulin, F. (2018). The interface of aggression and peer relations in childhood and adolescence. In W. M. Bukowski, B. Laursen, & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (2nd ed., pp. 284–301). New York: Guilford Press.
Vitaro, F., Pedersen, S., & Brendgen, M. (2007). Children’s disruptiveness, peer rejection, friends’ deviancy, and delinquent behaviors: A process-oriented approach. Development and Psychopathology, 19(2), 433–453.
Wong, K. K. Y., & Raine, A. (2019). Peer problems and low self-esteem mediate the suspicious and non-suspicious schizotypy-reactive aggression relationship in children and adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(11), 2241–2254, doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-01125-9.
Yao, M. Y., Zhou, Y. H., Li, J. Y., & Gao, X. M. (2019). Violent video games exposure and aggression: The role of moral disengagement, anger, hostility, and disinhibition. Aggressive Behavior, 45(6), 662–670, doi: 10.1002/ab.21860.

[1]	LIU Xin, LIU Xiaowen. The Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Reactive Aggression in Childhood: A Structural Equation Model with Multiple Mediators [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2021, 19(1): 82-88.
[2]	Wang Rong, Sang Biao, Li Yazhen. Implicit Cognition Bias in 4 ~ 8 Grade Children′s Peer Rolationship [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2016, 14(3): 338-345.