Age-related changes in children's perceptions of aggression and withdrawal in their peers.

Abstract

This study examined age-related changes in the organization underlying children's ratings of social deviance in their peers. Peer ratings of aggression, withdrawal, and likeability using the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) were collected from 326 first graders, 356 fourth graders, and 298 seventh graders. Measures of the . perceived similarity of all possible pairs of PEI items were derived by computing the frequency with which children at each grade level were concurrently nominated by their peers for both items comprising each pair of items. Multidimensional scaling was then employed to elucidate the structure underlying these indexes of interitem similarity. Structure ratios denoting the cohesiveness of the clusters of aggression, withdrawal, and likeability items were computed from the results of these analyses. For children of all ages aggression items and likeability items were found to comprise highly cohesive categories of behaviors that were distinct from each other. Withdrawal items, in contrast, clustered poorly at the first grade but became an increasingly cohesive category of behaviors and increasingly distinct from aggression as grade level increased.Aggression and social withdrawal represent fundamental dimensions of adult-rated deviant behavior in children (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1978;Quay, 1979). Comparatively few studies, however, have examined children's perceptions of aggression and withdrawal in their peers. The need for research in this area is compelling because of the increasing use of peers as assessors of childhood deviance (e.g., Ledingham, 1981;Weintraub, Prinz, & Neale, 1978). Existing peer assessment instruments have largely tended to parallel adult-rating measures in their focus An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Montreal, Quebec, June 1982. This research was supported by grants from the Quebec Ministry of Education, and Health and Welfare Canada.The authors wish to thank Claude Senneville and Denise Morin for their help in the data collection. Geoff Selig's valuable computer assistance is also greatly appreciated. We extend special thanks to la Commission des ecoles catholiques de Montreal for their continued cooperation with our research.

Definitions of Bullying: A Comparison of Terms Used, and Age and Gender Differences, in a Fourteen–Country International Comparison

“…It is also possible that younger children might have differentiated more on a free-sorting task with the cartoons, rather than a verbal labeling task, as was used in this study. However, the present finding is consistent with that of Younger et al (1985Younger et al ( , 1986, who also used MDS techniques and found a progressive differentiation in 6-, 9-, and 12-year-olds' perceptions of classmates in terms of aggression, likeability, and withdrawal.…”

Conceptions of aggression and withdrawal in early childhood

“…A long history of research comparing children's understandings of aggression and withdrawal supports the conclusion that over the elementary school years, children come to view aggression and withdrawal as increasingly distinct (Coie and Pennington, 1976;Maas et al, 1978;Younger et al, 1985Younger et al, , 1986; see also Heyman and Gelman, 2000). There is also evidence that withdrawal becomes more salient to children as they get older (Younger and Boyko, 1987;Younger and Piccinin, 1989).…”

“…Younger et al, 1985; see also Heyman and Gelman, 2000)? It might be that the use of simple stories in the present study served to emphasize distinctions between characteristics, as compared to other methodologies.…”

Friendship as a moderator of the relationship between social skills problems and peer victimisation

“…submission) are unlikely to emerge as a significant predictor for peer victimisation in younger children [Hanish and Guerra, 2000]. This is because young children are not skilled at recognising submissive behaviour [e.g., Younger and Boyko, 1987;Younger et al, 1985]. Thus, future studies could address these issues of age differences in risk, and work towards developing a developmentally appropriate model.…”