The relation between social rejection and growth in antisocial behavior was investigated. In Study 1,259 boys and girls (34% African American) were followed from Grades 1 to 3 (ages 6-8 years) to Grades 5 to 7 (ages 10-12 years). Early peer rejection predicted growth in aggression. In Study 2,585 boys and girls (16% African American) were followed from kindergarten to Grade 3 (ages 5-8 years), and findings were replicated. Furthermore, early aggression moderated the effect of rejection, such that rejection exacerbated antisocial development only among children initially disposed toward aggression. In Study 3, social information-processing patterns measured in Study 1 were found to mediate partially the effect of early rejection on later aggression. In Study 4, processing patterns measured in Study 2 replicated the mediation effect. Findings are integrated into a recursive model of antisocial development.

Externalizing behavior problems of 124 adolescents were assessed across Grades 7-11. In Grade 9, participants were also assessed across social-cognitive domains after imagining themselves as the object of provocations portrayed in six videotaped vignettes. Participants responded to vignette-based questions representing multiple processes of the response decision step of social information processing. Phase 1 of our investigation supported a two-factor model of the response evaluation process of response decision (response valuation and outcome expectancy). Phase 2 showed significant relations between the set of these response decision processes, as well as response selection, measured in Grade 9 and (a) externalizing behavior in Grade 9 and (b) externalizing behavior in Grades 10-11, even after controlling externalizing behavior in Grades 7-8. These findings suggest that on-line behavioral judgments about aggression play a crucial role in the maintenance and growth of aggressive response tendencies in adolescence.Inquiry in social-cognitive psychology (e.g., the association between cognitive processing and maladaptive social development.

This study examined the mediating role of loneliness (assessed by self-report at Time 2; Grade 6) in the relation between early social preference (assessed by peer report at Time 1; kindergarten through Grade 3) and adolescent anxious/depressed symptoms (assessed by mother, teacher, and self-reports at Time 3; Grades 7-9). Five hundred eighty-five boys and girls (48% female; 16% African American) from three geographic sites of the Child Development Project were followed from kindergarten through Grade 9. Loneliness partially mediated and uniquely incremented the significant effect of low social preference in childhood on anxious/depressed symptoms in adolescence, controlling for early anxious/depressed symptoms at Time 1. Findings are critical to understanding the psychological functioning through which early social experiences affect youths' maladjusted development. Directions for basic and intervention research are discussed, and implications for treatment are addressed.It is well established that children who have problems with their early peer relations are more likely to experience maladjustment in later life (Hymel, Rubin, Rowden, & LeMare, 1990;Kaplow, Fontaine, Burks, & Dodge, 2000;Parker & Asher, 1987). This effect appears to be particularly true for children who are chronically rejected by their peers (e.g., Boivin, Poulin, & Vitaro, 1994;Burks, Dodge, & Price, 1995;Coie, Lochman, Terry, & Hyman, 1992;Dodge et al., 2003;Kupersmidt, Burchinal, & Patterson, 1995; see Parker & Asher, 1987, for a review). Recently, there has been growing scientific interest in the psychological functioning through which peer-relation problems and early social experiences may affect the development of later internalizing difficulties, including symptoms of depression and anxiety (e.g., Boivin, Hymel, & Bukowski, 1995;Burks et al., 1995; also see Cicchetti, Rogosch, & Toth, 1994Cicchetti & Toth, 1998).One possible psychological mechanism is loneliness. The relation between early peer rejection and loneliness has been well established. As Asher, Parkhurst, Hymel, and Williams (1990, pp. 253-254) have asserted, "… there is good reason to expect that rejected children are dissatisfied with their peer relationships" and " [t]here is evidence that peer relationships matter to rejected children; indeed, they claim to place as much importance on peer relationships as do other children." It is no wonder, then, why children who are socially rejected or less preferred experience greater loneliness than do their nonrejected and socially preferred peers ; they lack (and may even be unable to attain) peer relationships to which they can attribute significant value.This problem may be exacerbated as children enter adolescence and the importance of relationships with one's peers becomes even more important (Engels, Dekovic, & Meeus, 2002; also, see Claes, 1992). During the transition from childhood to adolescence, youths focus more on peer relationships and less on relationships with adults, caregivers, and authority figures. Frie...

Viewing social rejection from same-age peers as a source of stress for children, the current study sought to determine the most appropriate model of the effects of temporary versus consistent experiences with rejection for both short-term and long-term internalizing problems. Adopting a cross-sectional longitudinal design, the sociometric status of children in the first year of the study (when the children were in the first, second, or third grades), and then again in the next school year (when children were in the second, third, or fourth grades) was assessed to determine which children were rejected by their peers. Internalizing outcome measures were administered in the third and sixth years of follow-up. Results indicated that, for boys, the Threshold Model best represented the stressful effects of rejection. That is, only boys who were exposed to rejection for 2 consecutive years demonstrated both short-term and long-term internalizing problems in subsequent years. For girls, however, there appeared to be few significant differences among those who never experienced rejection, who had only temporary experiences with rejection, and girls who were consistently exposed to rejection. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of a Threshold Model as well as possible explanations for these gender differences.

The authors investigated the relation between children's knowledge structures for peers and externalizing behavior problems. Initial levels of aggression were evaluated in 135 boys and 124 girls (Grades 1-3; 40% African American, 60% Caucasian) in Year 1 and again in Years 6 and 9. In Year 6, 3 aspects of their social knowledge structures were assessed: quality, density, and appropriateness. Results indicate that knowledge structures are related to children's concurrent levels of externalizing behaviors and that knowledge structures are related to children's concurrent levels of externalizing behaviors and predict externalizing behaviors 3 years later even after controlling for current levels of behavior. In addition, knowledge structures in Year 6 mediate the relation between aggression in Year 1 and externalizing behaviors in Year 9. The role of knowledge structures in the maintenance and growth of children's antisocial behavior is discussed.

Although a multitude of factors may be involved in the development of children's violent behavior, the actual aggressive act is preceded by a decision-making process that serves as the proximal control mechanism. The primary goal of this longitudinal study was to understand the nature of this proximal control mechanism involved in children's aggressive acts by focusing on two aspects of social cognitions: social information processing and stored knowledge (i.e., internal knowledge structures that are the latent memories of past events). It was hypothesized that: (1) children with hostile knowledge structures will display more biased patterns of aggressive social information processing than children whose knowledge structures are less hostile and negative; (2) children who display hostile knowledge structures will behave in chronically aggressive ways; and (3) the development of hostile knowledge structures and hostile patterns of social information processing contribute to the stability of aggressive behavior and thus partially mediate the relation between early and later aggressive behavior. 585 boys and girls (19% African-American) were followed from kindergarten through eighth grade. Results from this investigation support the hypotheses and are discussed in terms of the significance of the inclusion of knowledge structures in our theories of the mental processes involved in children's violent behaviour. KeywordsKnowledge structures; aggression; social-information processing There can be little doubt that severe aggressive behavior is a multiply determined phenomenon with many contributing factors. These can include genetic, pre-and perinatal, neurological, hormonal, physiological trauma, or other biological anomalies, as well as ecological, cognitive, and social variables. Although these factors may predispose an individual to behave violently, any specific display of aggression must have a proximal control mechanism that accounts for NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptSoc Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 December 14. Published in final edited form as:Soc Dev. 1999 ; 8(2): 220-235. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript each specific act of aggression at a particular moment. With the possible exception of hallucinogenically induced rage, the moment before an aggressive act is undertaken, a decision (either conscious or unconscious) is made to strike out. It is this decision-making process that serves as the proximal control for specific acts of aggression (Dodge, 1986;Ladd & Mize, 1983;Rubin & Krasnor, 1986). Online decision-making processes, in turn, may be guided by knowledge structures that are acquired in experience and are organized in long-term memory. These structures are internal mental representations which have been derived from memories of past experiences and are a major determinant of how people represent, categorize, and interpret ongoing social events (Higgins, 1990;Murphy & Medin, 1985;Stromquist & Strauman, 1991). Various paradigms hav...

The objective of this study was to examine differences in social information-processing and coping strategies between adolescent females in treatment for an eating disorder and asymptomatic peers. Adolescent females in treatment for an eating disorder (n = 50) were compared to asymptomatic control participants (n = 59) on a measure of social information-processing. Participants were presented with 4 hypothetical, ambiguous social dilemmas in which the intent of a peer provocateur was unclear. Questions followed each dilemma assessing intent attributions, the participant's emotional reaction, the intensity of the emotion, and coping strategies. The participants in treatment for an eating disorder were significantly more likely to perceive hostile intent from a peer provocateur, reported a greater intensity of negative emotions, and identified a significantly greater number of avoidant coping strategies. Specifically, the eating disorder group identified significantly more intrapunitive avoidant coping strategies that reflect maladaptive and self-destructive means of coping with distressing events. Results indicate social cognitive processing biases and maladaptive coping strategies may be instrumental in perceived loss of control and influence the development/maintenance of eating disorders.

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