The Moderating Role of Clique Hierarchical Organization on Resource Control by Central Clique Members.

Accessing resources in peer groups is essential for youth's survival and reproduction. To date, little is known about the behavioral strategies used by socially prominent preadolescent and early adolescent resource controllers in peer cliques, groups of individuals who hang out together during free time at school. Theory suggests that clique hierarchical organization should influence forceful resource control behavior of central (prominent) clique members, but evidence is mixed. This study examined the effects of clique hierarchical organization on forceful behavior used by central clique members to obtain a special toy during a 5-minute resource contest with clique-mates. Participants were 696 children (59.91% girls) ranging from 9 to 14 years (Mage = 11.59) in 147 cliques. Resource control, and prosocial, coercive, and bistrategic (hybrid prosocial and coercive) bids were recorded. Neither centrality nor hierarchy predicted resource control bid use, but centrality and bistrategic bids predicted resource control. Clique stratification (status differences among members) but not clique structure (shape of hierarchy) moderated the outcome of central clique members' bistrategic bids. Bistrategic bids advantaged central members of low-stratified but not highly stratified cliques, indicating that greater power is needed for resource control in cliques with numerous central members. However, high clique stratification did not quell the need for forceful behavior by central (or other) clique members. These findings suggest that for prominent preadolescent and early adolescent clique members, material resource control is the product of both mitigated force and acquiescence by clique-mates.

Peer Groups as a Context for School Misconduct: The Moderating Role of Group Interactional Style.

Peer group interactional style was examined as a moderator of the relation between peer group school misconduct and group members' school misconduct. Participants were 705 students (Mage  = 11.59 years, SD = 1.37) in 148 peer groups. Children reported on their school misconduct in fall and spring. In the winter, group members were observed in a limited-resource task and a group conversation task, and negative and positive group interactional styles were assessed. Multilevel modeling indicated that membership in groups that were higher on school misconduct predicted greater school misconduct only when the groups were high on negative or low on positive interactional style. Results suggest that negative laughter and a coercive interactional style may intensify group effects on children's misconduct.