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This study investigated early adolescents' (ages 9–14; M = 11.91) self‐reported, evolutionarily relevant motives for using aggression, including competitive, impression management, sadistic, and reactive functions, and examined differential relations with a range of psychosocial characteristics. As expected, competitive functions were associated with aggression and victimization in which the perpetrator had equal or less power than the victim, in line with the view that these are aversive and appetitive motives related to competition with rivals. Impression management and sadistic functions were associated with bullying and coercive resource control strategies (the latter for boys only), consistent with expectations that these are appetitive motives, with the former being more goal‐directed and the latter somewhat more impulsive. Finally, as hypothesized, reactive functions were associated with emotional symptoms, hostility, victimization by bullying, and aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim, consistent with theory and research conceptualizing reactive aggression as an impulsive, emotion‐driven response to provocation. The benefits of studying a wide range of evolutionarily relevant aggressive functions are discussed.

This study examined adolescents' cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending previous research showing that traditional forms of bullying, aggression, and victimization are associated with reproductively relevant outcomes. Consistent with hypotheses based on theory and research linking bullying and aggression to intrasexual competition for mates, results indicated that cyber victimization was positively associated with a number of dating and sexual partners. Findings for cyber aggression were more complex, depending on the degree of cyber victimization experienced by the perpetrator, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Specifically, nonbullying cyber aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim had stronger positive relations with the number of dating or sexual partners when perpetrators experienced a high level of cyber victimhood. In contrast, cyberbullying by perpetrators with more power than the victim was negatively associated with the number of dating partners when the perpetrators' exposure to cyber victimization was low. Although cyber aggression and cyber victimization are new forms of aggression that involve the use of modern electronic devices, the results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of viewing this behavior from an evolutionary perspective and show that adolescents are likely to use cyber aggression against rivals in the context of intrasexual competition for mates. K E Y W O R D S cyber aggression, cyber victimization, cyberbullying, dating, evolutionary theory, sex

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This study used an evolutionary psychological perspective to investigate early adolescents' involvement in indirect relational and cyber aggression that was perpetrated anonymously. Relations with the functions and targets of aggression, and victims' perceptions of harm, were examined to consider whether anonymous indirect aggression may be used selectively in a manner that could be conditionally adaptive. In a sample of 378 students (11-14 years; M = 12.87, SD = .84), anonymous aggression was most consistently associated with impression management functions (status and mate seeking), especially for girls, concordant with their greater risk aversion and concerns about reputation for reciprocity and trustworthiness. Moreover, both cyber and relational forms of anonymous aggression and victimization were associated with bullying against less powerful peers, whereas only anonymous cyber aggression and victimization were associated with adversarial aggression against equally or more powerful targets, likely because anonymity in cyberspace can mitigate the risks of targeting powerful rivals. Finally, anonymous victimization was associated with victim perceptions of harm when controlling for victimization by known perpetrators, albeit only for girls in cyber form. Results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective to suggest that anonymous indirect aggression, when used selectively in appropriate forms against suitable targets for relevant functions, may be a conditionally adaptive means for some individuals to inflict costs on targets while mitigating social, reputational and retaliatory costs. Implications for interventions are also discussed.