Peer Preference and Friendship Quantity in Children with Externalizing Behavior: Distinct Influences on Bully Status and Victim Status

Abstract

This study investigated the predictive relations between externalizing behavior, peer preference and friendship quantity, and bully status and victim status among children becoming acquainted with one another for the first time. Children ages 6.8-9.8 years (24 with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; 113 typically developing; 72 girls) attended a 2-week summer day camp grouped into same-age, same-sex classrooms with previously unacquainted peers. Externalizing behavior (via parent and teacher ratings) was measured before the start of camp; peer preference and friendship quantity (via peer nominations) were measured in the middle of camp, and bully status and victim status (via peer nominations) were measured at the end of camp. Low peer preference mediated the positive association between externalizing behavior and bully status. Both peer preference and friendship quantity moderated the relation between externalizing behavior and bully status as well as between externalizing behavior and victim status; whereas high peer preference protected against both bully status and victim status, friendship quantity protected against victim status but exacerbated bully status. Some gender differences were found within these pathways. Peer preference, compared to friendship quantity, appears to have a more consistently protective role in the relation between externalizing behavior and bully status as well as victim status.

Relations between close friendships and adolescent aggression: Structural and behavioral friendship features

“…We found a significant interaction, such that larger reciprocal friendship groups were associated with higher aggression (concurrently), but particularly for adolescents with moderately to highly aggressive friends. Though this finding supports prior research findings that youth with more close friends were more aggressive (including younger children and early adolescents; Boulton, ; Jia & Mikami, ; Perren & Alsaker, ; Salmivalli et al, ), our findings provide additional insights into the role of friendship group size: this relation was stronger for youth with more aggressive friends. The significant interaction is consistent with our hypothesis of a social dosage effect (Martin & Fabes, ).…”

“…Among both younger children (5–10 years old; Boulton, ; Jia & Mikami, ; Perren & Alsaker, ) and early adolescents (11–12 years old; Salmivalli, Huttunen, & Lagerspetz, ), researchers have found that aggressors belong to larger friendship groups than non‐aggressors. Particularly in early adolescence, aggression may be used to gain friends and strengthen social bonds (e.g., gossiping about a third peer to strengthen one's connection with a friend; joining with friends to fight a peer group outsider, which can simultaneously exclude the outsider while solidifying group bonds; Adler & Adler, ; Merten, ).…”

Configurations of Adolescents' Peer Experiences: Associations With Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Parental Problem Behavior

“…Associations between parental delinquency and child aggression were also reported (Tzoumakis, Lussier, & Corrado, 2014), suggesting that children apply observed behaviors in the peer context. Aggressive behavior has been linked to peer rejection (Ettekal & Ladd, 2014), poor-quality friendships (Campbell, Spieker, Burchinal, & Poe, 2006), low peer status (Jia & Mikami, 2014), and victimization (Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003). Indeed, children from families with high levels of parental problem behavior were at greater risk for victimization through being bullies themselves (Eiden et al, 2010).…”

A study on the school violence experience of children with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder in the context of bullying

“…Sequentially, this behavior results in negative feedback, which induces symptoms such as depression and anxiety, leading to higher rates of struggling in school life (Glass et al, 2012;Holmberg & Hjern, 2008;Lee, 2009;Shea & Wiener, 2003). Consequently, patients with ADHD are highly likely to be both perpetrators and victims of school violence (Choi, 2017;Chou et al, 2014;Hwang, 2015;Jia & Mikami, 2015).…”