The Longitudinal Interplay between Adverse Peer Experiences and Self-Regulation Facets: A Prospective Analysis during Middle Childhood.

Positive peer experiences and self-regulation (SR) skills are crucial for children's healthy development, but little is known about how they interact during middle childhood. Therefore, we examined the prospective links between adverse peer experiences (APEs) and SR, drawing from the dataset of the PIER study. Across three measurement points, 1654 children aged 6-11 (T1), 7-11 (T2), and 9-13 years (T3) were included. We assessed the SR facets updating, flexibility, inhibition, emotional reactivity, inhibitory control, and planning using computerized tasks, parent- and teacher-reports. The latent variable of APEs consisted of measures of peer victimization and peer rejection assessed via self-, parent-, and teacher-report. Separate cross-lagged panel models were calculated, investigating the interplay of each SR facet and APEs. Results indicated that experiencing more APEs at T1 predicted higher emotional reactivity, and lower inhibition, inhibitory control, updating, and flexibility at T2. More APEs at T2 predicted higher emotional reactivity and lower planning at T3. Lower inhibition, updating, and flexibility at T2 predicted more APEs at T3. Accordingly, we found a negative bidirectional relationship between inhibition, updating, and flexibility with APEs. Our findings highlight that during middle childhood more APEs predict lower SR, which in turn predicts more experiences of peer victimization and rejection.

Self-regulation facets differentially predict internalizing symptom trajectories from middle childhood to early adolescence: a longitudinal multimethod study.

BACKGROUND: Internalizing symptoms are among the most common psychological symptoms in childhood and adolescence, are highly stable and can cause severe impairment. Current research discusses lower capacities of self-regulation (SR) as risk factors for the development of internalizing symptoms. The present study identifies trajectories of internalizing symptoms in the transition phase from middle childhood to adolescence and examines multiple SR facets as predictors of potentially unfavorable trajectories, also in the presence of other established risk factors. METHODS: The study utilized a community sample of N = 1453 (52.2% female) German children, who provided data at up to three measurement points (t1: 6-11 years, t2: 7-11 years, t3: 9-13 years). Trajectories of internalizing symptoms were based on parents' ratings of the emotional problems scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. SR facets were assessed using multiple methods and informants. Two multinomial regression analyses were conducted to predict class membership by (1) SR facets and gender and (2) SR facets, gender, and other established risk factors (education status, family adversity, peer problems). RESULTS: Using growth mixture modelling, we identified three trajectory classes with stable low (n = 1200), increasing (n = 124), and early high decreasing internalizing symptoms (n = 129). In the regression analysis controlling for risk factors, membership in the increasing trajectory was significantly predicted by higher emotional reactivity (OR = 2.65, p < .001), higher cognitive flexibility/set-shifting (OR = 1.48, p = .032), and higher family adversity (OR = 1.38, p = .046). Membership in the early high decreasing trajectory was significantly predicted by higher emotional reactivity (OR = 4.15, p < .001), higher inhibitory control (OR = 1.47, p = .045), lower working-memory updating (OR = 0.69, p = .016), lower delay of gratification (OR = 0.75, p = .028), and higher family adversity (OR = 1.63, p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: SR facets incrementally and differentially predict potentially unfavorable trajectories of internalizing symptoms from age 6 to 13, surpassing the predictive value of gender or education status. Higher emotional reactivity emerged as the most influential factor, which could therefore be addressed in future prevention and intervention efforts.

With a Little Help from Their Peers: The Impact of Classmates on Adolescents' Development of Prosocial Behavior.

Peer groups are critical socialization agents for the development of social behavior in adolescence, but studies examining peer-group effects on individuals' prosocial behavior are scarce. Using a two-wave, multilevel data set (N = 16,893, 8481 male; 8412 female; mean age at Time 1: 14.0 years) from 1308 classes in 252 secondary schools in Germany, main effects of the classroom level of prosocial behavior, cross-level interactions between the classroom and the individual levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1, and the moderating role of gender were examined. The results showed that adolescents in classrooms with high collective levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1 reported more prosocial behavior at Time 2, about two years later, reflecting a class-level main effect. A significant cross-level interaction indicated that a high classroom level of prosocial behavior particularly affected individuals with lower levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1. The influence of same-gender peers was larger compared with opposite-gender peers. The findings are discussed with respect to social learning mechanisms in the development of prosocial behavior and their implications for interventions to promote prosocial behavior.

The socializing effect of classroom aggression on the development of aggression and social rejection: A two-wave multilevel analysis.

The current study examined the moderating effect of classroom aggression on the development of individual aggression and on the path from individual aggression to social rejection over time. The study included 1,284 elementary school children and consisted of two data waves 10months apart. At both time points, teachers assessed the children's physical and relational aggression and their social rejection status. Multi-level analyses revealed that the classroom level of relational aggression moderated the link between individual relational aggression at T1 and T2 (b=-0.18, 95% CI [-0.32, -0.05], p<.01) and the link between T1 relational aggression and T2 social rejection (b=-0.12, 95% CI [-0.23, -0.003], p<.01). Being in a classroom where relational aggression was prevalent increased relational aggression among children with a low level of relational aggression at T1. Furthermore, a high individual level of relational aggression predicted greater social rejection in classrooms with a low level of relational aggression. Children were mainly influenced by their same-gender peers. Boys as a group had a greater influence than girls on their peers of either gender in the domain of relational aggression, whereas girls as a group had a greater influence in the domain of physical aggression. The contributions of analyzing cross-level interaction to understanding the developmental patterns of aggression and social rejection in middle childhood are discussed.

The girls set the tone: gendered classroom norms and the development of aggression in adolescence.

In a four-wave longitudinal study with N = 1,321 adolescents in Germany, we examined the impact of class-level normative beliefs about aggression on aggressive norms and behavior at the individual level over the course of 3 years. At each data wave, participants indicated their normative acceptance of aggressive behavior and provided self-reports of physical and relational aggression. Multilevel analyses revealed significant cross-level interactions between class-level and individual-level normative beliefs at T1 on individual differences in physical aggression at T2, and the indirect interactive effects were significant up to T4. Normative approval of aggression at the class level, especially girls' normative beliefs, defined the boundary conditions for the expression of individual differences in aggressive norms and their impact on physically and relationally aggressive behavior for both girls and boys. The findings demonstrate the moderating effect of social norms on the pathways from individual normative beliefs to aggressive behavior in adolescence.

Interplay of normative beliefs and behavior in developmental patterns of physical and relational aggression in adolescence: a four-wave longitudinal study.

In a longitudinal study with N = 1,854 adolescents from Germany, we investigated patterns of change and gender differences in physical and relational aggression in relation to normative beliefs about these two forms of aggression. Participants, whose mean age was 13 years at T1, completed self-report measures of physically and relationally aggressive behavior and indicated their normative approval of both forms of aggression at four data waves separated by 12-month intervals. Boys scored higher than did girls on both forms of aggression, but the gender difference was more pronounced for physical aggression. Physical aggression decreased and relational aggression increased over the four data waves in both gender groups. The normative acceptance of both forms of aggression decreased over time, with a greater decrease for the approval of physical aggression. In both gender groups, normative approval of relational aggression prospectively predicted relational aggression across all data waves, and the normative approval of physical aggression predicted physically aggressive behavior at the second and third data waves. A reciprocal reinforcement of aggressive norms and behavior was found for both forms of aggression. The findings are discussed as supporting a social information processing perspective on developmental patterns of change in physical and relational aggression in adolescence.

Efficacy of an intervention to reduce the use of media violence and aggression: an experimental evaluation with adolescents in Germany.

Several longitudinal studies and meta-analytic reviews have demonstrated that exposure to violent media is linked to aggression over time. However, evidence on effective interventions to reduce the use of violent media and promote critical viewing skills is limited. The current study examined the efficacy of an intervention designed to reduce the use of media violence and aggression in adolescence, covering a total period of about 12 months. A sample of 683 7th and 8th graders in Germany (50.1% girls) were assigned to two conditions: a 5-week intervention and a no-intervention control group. Measures of exposure to media violence and aggressive behavior were obtained about 3 months prior to the intervention (T1) and about 7 months post-intervention (T2). The intervention group showed a significantly larger decrease in the use of violent media from T1 to T2 than the control group. Participants in the intervention group also scored significantly lower on self-reported aggressive behavior (physical aggression and relational aggression) at T2 than those in the control group, but the effect was limited to those with high levels of initial aggression. This effect was mediated by an intervention-induced decrease in the normative acceptance of aggression. No gender differences in program efficacy were found. The results show that a 5-week school-based intervention can produce changes in the use of media violence, aggressive norms, and behaviors sustained over several months.