Preventing Aggressive and Violent Behavior: Using Prevention Programs to Study the Role of Peer Dynamics in Maladjustment Problems

Abstract

Two processes in the relationships between children have been associated with adverse developmental outcomes in children, namely, peer rejection and affiliation with deviant peers. In numerous studies, both of these processes have been linked not only to negative outcomes, including aggression, delinquency, violence, but also to school failure or internalizing problems. However, we yet have to understand the exact role of peer dynamics in the development towards maladjustment. Many prevention programs aim at manipulating peer dynamics in their effort to prevent aggression and violence. Apart from studying the effectiveness of such programs, these programs can provide valuable insight through which peer dynamics are linked with aggression and violence. In this study, we review prevention programs that studied the role of peer dynamics in the development to aggression and violent behaviors. First, we shortly describe the processes of peer rejection and deviant friends' affiliation. We then review three types of intervention programs: programs in unstructured settings, universal classroom-based programs, and targeted intervention aimed at the direct manipulation of peer processes. From these studies, we demonstrate that intervention success (and also intervention failure) is, to an extent, accounted for by peer dynamics. Implications for further research are discussed. We conclude that although preventive interventions that aim at manipulating the social context of children are promising, we should be cautious with a large-scale implementation of such programs as our knowledge of peer dynamics is yet too limited to ascertain the absence of unexpected negative effects.

The Impact of Context on the Development of Aggressive Behavior in Special Elementary School Children

“…Intervention groups provide an appropriate context for studying the influence of peer‐group dynamics on children's aggressive behavior. They make it possible to manipulate the context in which the intervention is given and thus to control for effects of peer‐group dynamics (van Lier, Vitaro, & Eisner, 2007).…”

“…Ang and Hughes (2001), for example, concluded that negative peer contagion was more effective in homogeneous aggressive groups than in mixed groups or individual treatment, whereas Mager et al (2005) found that in the mixed groups the negative peer contagion was more effective compared with homogeneous aggressive groups. van Lier et al (2007) argued that negative peer contagion is likely to occur in both homogeneous aggressive and mixed intervention groups.…”

“…We need to learn more about the factors and processes that may mediate negative effects of grouping antisocial children (Arnold & Hughes, 1999; van Lier et al, 2007). For example, it is still uncertain to which children and under which circumstances negative peer contagion effects are most harmful.…”

Developmental cascades of peer relations and symptoms of externalizing and internalizing problems from kindergarten to fourth-grade elementary school

“…More direct support for the role of competences in psychopathology development comes from results of preventive intervention studies showing that reductions in levels of psychopathology were partially accounted for by improvements in peer relations, such as improved peer acceptance, reduced peer victimization, and reduced affiliation with deviant friends (Bierman et al, 2002; van Lier & Crijnen, 2005; Vitaro, Brendgen, Pagani, Tremblay, & McDuff, 1999; Vuijk, van Lier, Crijnen, & Huizink, 2007; Witvliet, van Lier, Cuijpers, & Koot, 2009). Similarly, in several studies iatrogenic, or unwanted negative effects of intervention were explained by negative peer influences on initially nonaggressive children (Dishion & Dodge, 2005; Dishion, McCord, & Poulin, 1999; Dishion, Poulin, & Burraston, 2001; van Lier, Vitaro, & Eisner, 2007). Other recognition for the entanglement of psychopathology and competences comes from developmental psychopathology, positive psychology, and resilience theory (for an overview, see Masten et al, 2006).…”

Zachowania antyspołeczne a agresja młodzieży nieprzystosowanej i nieprzejawiającej deficytów zachowania

“…Choć w niniejszych badaniach agresję potraktowano jako zmienną niezależną, przyczyniającą się -zgodnie z wieloma koncepcjami -do różnych zachowań antyspołecznych (van Lier, Vitaro, Eisner, 2007), to zarówno agresja, jak i badane cechy wykolejenia są skutkami nieprzystosowania społecznego. Z tego względu przyjęte zmienne jako symptomy mogą dwustronnie na siebie oddziaływać i nie trzeba przestrzegać bezwzględnie zasady przyczynowo-skutkowej w interpretacji danych, gdyż agresja prowadzi do działań antyspołecznych, a samo funkcjonowanie antyspołeczne nie byłoby sfinalizowane, gdyby nie agresja (Underwood, Beron, Rosen, 2011).…”