Agentic or Communal? Associations between Interpersonal Goals,Popularity, and Bullying in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

This study investigated whether perceived popularity mediates and/or moderates the association between agentic goals and bullying, and whether sociometric popularity mediates and/or moderates the association between communal goals and bullying. Age and gender differences were also examined. Participants were 276 fourth and fifth graders (middle childhood sample) and 196 seventh and eighth graders (early adolescence sample). Peer status and bullying were assessed with sociometric measures, interpersonal goals with self‐reports. The theoretical model included both mediation and moderation effects. An age‐related reversal was found in how status mediated the associations between goals and bullying. Sociometric popularity mediated the association of agentic goals with bullying in middle childhood but of communal goals with bullying in early adolescence. Perceived popularity mediated the association of communal goals with bullying in middle childhood but of agentic goals with bullying in early adolescence. In middle childhood, perceived popularity also moderated the effect of agentic goals on bullying. The results were discussed in terms of the role of bullying as a means to enhance status in early adolescence.     

The Intertwined Relationship between Self‐esteem and Peer Stress Among Korean Adolescents: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Although the association between self‐esteem and peer stress among adolescents is not unidirectional, and the two constructs probably coevolve and coexist over time, these two constructs and their possible mutual influence have rarely been tested in one single study. The present study examined whether there are bidirectional interactions between self‐esteem and perceptions of peer stress across five or six annual waves using a nationally representative sample of two cohorts of South Korean youth. The sample comprised 2844 fourth graders (M = 9.86 years) and 3449 eighth graders (M = 13.79 years) at wave 1. Findings suggested that self‐esteem was positively associated with peer stress in early and middle adolescence, whereas peer stress was negatively associated with self‐esteem in early adolescence, but had positive links in middle and late adolescence. The implications of the results were discussed.     

The importance of peer relatedness at school for affective well‐being in children: Between‐ and within‐person associations

Two intensive longitudinal studies examining the association between children's feeling of relatedness to peers at school and their affective well‐being were performed. In Study 1, 110 third and fourth graders reported on their positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) 4 times daily and on their peer relatedness once a day over 4 weeks. Multilevel analyses revealed that children who reported higher peer relatedness on average also reported higher PA and lower NA (between‐person associations). Moreover, on days when children reported higher peer relatedness than usual, they also reported higher PA, but they did not necessarily report lower NA (within‐person associations). In Study 2, 55 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders indicated their PA, NA, and peer relatedness once a day over 2 weeks. We replicated the findings of Study 1 on both levels. The studies showed that feeling related to peers is associated with high PA at school and at home on a daily basis, illustrating the function of peer relatedness in promoting positive well‐being. The findings further demonstrated the necessity of intensive longitudinal studies focusing on within‐person associations and the importance of measuring both PA and NA in order to capture effects on affective well‐being thoroughly.     

The Cost of Being Mother's Ideal Child: The Role of Internalization in the Development of Perfectionism and Depression

The study investigated how children's willingness to internalize mothers' values affected the associations between mothers' performance goals for their children and the development of children's perfectionism and depression. The participants were 59 Hong Kong fifth graders and their mothers. The results showed that internalization, as a child factor, moderated the association between mothers' performance goals for their children and children's self‐oriented perfectionism, but not socially prescribed perfectionism. Children's internalization also moderated the association between mothers' performance goals for their children and children's depression. Among the children who were more willing to internalize their mothers' values, their mothers' performance goals for them were correlated positively with their self‐oriented perfectionism, but negatively with their depression. Paradoxically, internalization appeared to be a risk and also a protective factor in the psychological well‐being of children.     

Social Status as a Predictor of Race and Gender Stereotypes in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

We examined race and gender stereotypes in fourth‐, sixth‐ and eighth‐grade White and Black children. The participants reported their perceptions of the competence of Black, White, female and male children in academic domains, sports and music. In general, low‐status groups (girls and Black children) did not endorse stereotypes that reflected negatively on their own group but were likely to report stereotypes that favored their social group. High‐status groups (boys and Whites) endorsed most traditional stereotypes, whether negative or positive, for their social group. Where age differences appeared, older children were more likely than younger children to report traditional stereotypes and status effects were more pronounced. The results are discussed in terms of group enhancement and relationships between social stereotypes and self‐views.     

Emotion Knowledge Skills in Low-income Elementary School Children: Associations with Social Status and Peer Experiences

This short‐term longitudinal study examined relations between emotion knowledge and social functioning in a sample of low‐income kindergarten and 1st graders. Individual differences in spontaneous emotion naming and emotion recognition skills were used to predict children's social functioning at school, including peer‐nominated sociometric status, and child self‐reports of negative experiences with peers in school (peer victimization and rejection). Children who had greater emotional vocabulary and recognized emotions more accurately had better outcomes in all areas, and many of the associations between fall emotion knowledge skills and spring social functioning outcomes held after covarying grade and children's previous status with regard to these outcomes. Results are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention programs (e.g., the PATHS curriculum) that focus on teaching emotion knowledge skills in order to foster high‐risk children's social competence.     

Adjusting for Group Size Effects in Peer Nomination Data

Adjusting nomination‐based sociometric and peer assessment scores for biases due to variations in group size has been a long‐standing concern for peer relations researchers. The techniques that have been typically used to make these adjustments (e.g., proportion and standardized scores) are known to have fundamental problems that limit their utility. This study introduces a regression‐based procedure that adjusts nomination‐based scores for variations in group size and compares it with the standardization and proportion procedures. Analyses were conducted on sociometric and peer assessment scores of 1594 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from 63 classrooms. The advantages of the regression‐based procedure over standardization and proportion transformations are outlined. Implications for the accuracy and validity of nomination‐based measures and the research findings based on them are discussed.     

Social psychology and neoliberalism: A critical commentary on McDonald,Gough, Wearing,and Deville (2017)

McDonald, Gough, Wearing, and Deville (2017) call for the discipline of social psychology to investigate issues of neoliberalism, consumption and self‐identity more seriously. We make two contributions in relation to their analysis. First, we highlight some current issues associated with neoliberalism as a concept that leave us in doubt regarding the analytical usefulness of the term. Due to its imprecision and over‐extension, predominant association with the left who use it pejoratively, and altered economic circumstances, we are increasingly skeptical of neoliberalism's analytical validity to social psychology. Second, we also stress the importance of interdisciplinarity, but suggest that empirical insights from mainstream social psychology have much to offer social scientists concerned with how current economic developments impact upon self‐identity and social behaviour. We conclude by pointing out that a greater openness to heterodoxy within and between critical and mainstream strands and the wider social sciences are required if social psychologists are going to make more persuasive impacts to the study and resistance of market logic.     

Early Maternal Depression and Social Skills in Adolescence: A Marginal Structural Modeling Approach

Early maternal depression is a risk factor that may have adverse effects on adolescent social skills. Although evidence indicates links between early maternal depression and social outcomes during early childhood, whether an association extends to adolescence needs further examination. We tested the possible long‐term association between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills using a national secondary dataset. A secondary objective was to test if maternal parenting at the transition to adolescence mediated the association, with the notion that adverse outcomes of early maternal depression could be ameliorated by positive parenting practices at an important developmental transition. Data were obtained from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Marginal structural modeling within the context of structural equation modeling revealed a significant association between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills while controlling for maternal depression during pre‐adolescence and adolescence. Maternal parenting skills partially mediated the association between early maternal depression and mother report of adolescent social skills. These findings have important implications for understanding the link between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills, and for informing parenting practices during pre‐adolescence.     

What do children think about their social worker? A Q‐method study of children's services

Understanding how children experience social work interventions is an important part of gauging whether what is provided is genuinely helpful. In this paper, we describe the findings from a research project using Q‐method, aimed at understanding what children involved with statutory services think about their social workers and how they experience the time they spend together. Using a pre‐existing practice framework, we explored skills including empathy, collaboration, and purposefulness from the point of view of children and young people. The participants in our study (n = 22) were insightful observers of social work practice, able to describe not only how they experienced time spent with their workers but also inferring differences in motivation and approach. In addition, workers who were described in similar terms by different young people were nevertheless experienced differently. This suggests not an archetypal “good social worker”—instead, there are skills that are good for specific children at specific times within the context of specific relationships.     

The association of caregivers’ and children’s characteristics with children’s social preference and being a class leader in China

Children’s social status in China includes both informal (e.g., social preference) and formal (e.g., class leader) statuses. This study examines the associations among caregivers’ characteristics, children’s characteristics, children’s social preference, and being a class leader by using multiple sources of information (caregiver reports, self‐ratings, sociometric methods, and achievement data). The participants were 1,926 fourth‐ to ninth‐ graders (M_age = 12.7; 49.7% males) and their primary caregivers. The caregivers’ characteristics were found to be related more closely to class leader than to social preference. Both higher children’s interpersonal character and academic achievement were associated with higher social preference and class leader; however, academic achievement showed stronger relationships with both types of status than interpersonal character. The children’s characteristics mediated the associations between caregivers’ characteristics and children’s social statuses. The grade difference test showed that interpersonal character had a stronger association with social preference, and academic achievement had a stronger association with class leader in secondary school than in primary school. The results suggest that children’s characteristics (especially academic achievement) are strongly related to Chinese children’s social preference and being a class leader. In addition, the potential role of caregivers’ characteristics and the influence of child age are noteworthy.     

Does parenting correspond with children's defending behavior? Examining linkages in the context of peer social preference

Bullying intervention research points to the important role of children standing up for victims (defending behavior). This study provides an initial look at how certain parenting practices may be generally related to the socialization of defending behavior among children. Defenders typically enjoy significant social status, allowing them the social capital to intervene. With this in mind, we also assess how parenting and children's social preference scores might uniquely or interactively predict defending behavior. This cross‐sectional study employs a sample of 219 (101 boys) fourth‐grade children living in the Western United States. Both mothers and fathers self‐reported their authoritative, authoritarian, and psychologically controlling parenting practices. A peer sociometric assessment provided each child's social preference score. Peer nominations provided each child's reputation for defending behaviors. Multiple regression results showed that a few of the parenting dimensions significantly predicted girls’ defending behavior above and beyond peer social preference. In contrast, the defending behavior scores of boys were unrelated to parenting. Finally, we used interaction analyses to probe whether the association between defending and parenting meaningfully varies according to children's levels of social preference. We did not find evidence to support this. We discuss the ramifications of these findings for future research.     

I’m respectful. Why don’t they like me? Evaluator and gender effects of showing respect and children’s social competence

Despite extensive research on the importance of conceptualizing respect, little is known about how respect recipients and peer onlookers evaluate showing respect. Few studies have examined how such evaluations affect children's peer relations across four levels of social complexity (individual, interactions, relationships, and group), and few have assessed how gender influences the evaluations of showing respect to peers on peer social competence. This study used multi‐group structural equation modeling (MSEM) to examine how (a) cross‐evaluators’ views on showing respect mediated the relation between multiple measures of social complexity and children's social competence and (b) whether gender moderated the above relations. Two hundred and sixteen participants were chosen from third to sixth graders (111 girls; M_age =10.30). They completed self‐reports of social competence and showing respect, and peer reports of classmates’ showing respect, overt aggression, physical victimization, mutual friends, and social competence. Self‐evaluations of showing respect were negatively related to group‐level social competence. Peer evaluations of showing respect mediated the association between peer relations (specifically, number of mutual friends and overt aggression) and individual‐level and group‐level social competence. Gender moderated three paths in the model, namely links between overt aggression and (a) peer evaluations for showing respect; (b) group‐level social competence; and (c) individual‐level social competence. Negative associations were stronger for girls than for boys. The research findings suggest that gender norms shape the complex relations between children's showing respect and social competence, and an understanding of these relations must take into account differences in evaluations made by children and their peers.     

Burnout in Chinese social work: Differential predictability of the components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory

Burnout is a worldwide phenomenon among social welfare workers. This study examined how burnout affects student social workers and professional social workers. It first examined the construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey (MBI‐GS) scale, using data from two Chinese samples (848 student social workers and 748 professional social workers). The original three‐factor model was regarded as superior to other competing models. Investigation of the second‐order factor model indicated that exhaustion and cynicism are core components but that personal efficacy is not. The research also revealed the differential predictability of the three subscales of the MBI‐GS. Our expectation that differential patterns of effects could be predicted was largely supported. Professional efficacy plays a key mediating role in the relationship between student social workers’ professional identity and their satisfaction with fieldwork, while social workers’ cynicism is the main mediator in the relationship between their professional identity and turnover intention. Therefore, identifying at‐risk students and professional social workers to undertake appropriate intervention strategies that focus on both their professional identity and different dimensions of burnout may be an effective way to prevent students’ dissatisfaction and reduce social worker turnover.     

Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations, 2007

Jennifer L. Bluth

The relationship between body image satisfaction and depression was investigated with a group of adolescent and preadolescent males and females. A total of 382 participants constituted the sample, 194 fourth graders from two suburban elementary schools, and 187 eighth graders from one suburban middle school. Through the use of four measurement scales: the Body Esteem Scale, the Body Dissatisfaction Scale, the Depression Self‐Rating Scale, and the Short Acculturation Scale, this study confirmed what has been reported in the literature about adolescent females, that as a group, they exhibit greater body dissatisfaction than adolescent males and preadolescents of both genders. However, this study also supported evidence for the contention that adolescent males and preadolescents of both genders are not immune to experiencing body dissatisfaction. Through the use of body image measures and the depression measure, results from this study also demonstrated that the relationship between body image and symptoms of depression works the same way for adolescents as it does for preadolescents. The more satisfied one is with one's body, the fewer symptoms of depression. Because the majority of participants scored high on level of acculturation, one can assume that level of acculturation did not serve as a mediating variable between satisfaction and symptoms of depression. Therefore, increases in symptoms of depression among participants are likely due to feelings associated with a negative body image rather than to issues pertaining to acculturation.     

Web-based assessment of social and emotional competence in the late elementary grades

This paper presents evidence of the score reliability, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and measurement equivalence of a web-based assessment of several important social and emotional competencies for children in fourth through sixth grades. The assessment, SELweb LE (Late Elementary), is designed to measure children's understanding of other's thoughts and feelings, their ability to solve social problems, and their ability to engage in self-control. SELweb LE satisfies a need for a direct assessment that measures theoretically relevant social and emotional competencies specifically for youth in the late elementary grades. The competencies measured are associated with youth outcomes, are reflected in state education standards, and are the targets of instruction in widely used social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula. Analyses support SELweb LE's factor structure, score reliability, measurement equivalence, and convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. More broadly, evidence supports the use of SELweb LE to characterize student competencies.     

Understanding Popularity and Relational Aggression in Adolescence: The Role of Social Dominance Orientation

This study investigated a potential moderator of the association between popularity and relational aggression: social dominance orientation (SDO), the degree to which an individual endorses the importance of social hierarchy. One hundred eighty‐five ninth graders completed a sociometric assessment of RA and popularity, and a self‐report SDO measure. SDO was positively associated with popularity for both boys and girls, and with RA for girls. Popularity and RA were positively correlated for both genders. Regression analyses showed that SDO moderated the association between popularity and RA for girls, but not for boys. Girls who were both popular and who were social dominance‐oriented were particularly high in peer‐nominated RA. SDO may provide a useful framework for understanding the role of popularity in adolescent peer groups.     

Friends in high places: A dyadic perspective on peer status as predictor of friendship quality and the mediating role of empathy and prosocial behavior

Friendships and peer status play important roles in the social landscape of adolescents and are related to developmental outcomes. Yet, how peer status is related to friendship quality and what role social skills play in this association remains unclear. In this study, we use Actor–Partner Interdependence (Mediation) Modeling (Ledermann, Macho, & Kenny, 2011 ) to investigate how two forms of peer status, preference and popularity, are related to positive and negative friendship quality in mid‐adolescence. Results show that adolescents who are friends with more preferred (i.e., likeable) and popular adolescents report higher friendship quality. These partner effects were partially mediated by adolescents’ own prosocial behavior and their friends’ empathy levels. Higher levels of empathy of one's friend and one's own lesser preference for equity explained why adolescents were more satisfied in a friendship with highly preferred (i.e., likeable) adolescents. Interestingly, empathy was not a mediator for the link between friendship quality and popularity. These findings promote a better understanding of the interplay between different levels of social complexity (i.e., individual, dyadic and peer group level) in adolescence.     

Examining individual‐level academic risk and protective factors for foster youth: School engagement,behaviors, self‐esteem,and social skills

Students' school engagement is widely regarded as critical for positive school adjustment and overall academic success. Foster youth persistently face poorer educational outcomes than peers and demonstrate lower levels of school engagement and higher levels of academically threatening behaviors. The goals of the present study were (a) to explore relationships amongst various child‐level correlates of school engagement and problem behaviors—namely, self‐esteem and social skills—and (b) to respectively investigate the protective potential of self‐esteem and social skills in the association between school engagement and behavior problems that threaten educational trajectories. Results indicate significant associations between school engagement and problem behaviors, as well as between self‐esteem, social skills, and school engagement. Further, self‐esteem mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior, and social skills mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior. Implications for future practice, research, and policy are discussed.