Proximal Peer-Level Effects of a Small-Group Selected Prevention on Aggression in Elementary School Children: An Investigation of the Peer Contagion Hypothesis

Boxer, Paul; Guerra, Nancy G.; Huesmann, L. Rowell; Morales, Julie R.

doi:10.1007/s10802-005-3568-2

Cited by 95 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Following the procedure of previous studies (Boxer et al 2005), we used a composite measure of participants' aggressive behavior, made up of the combination of the reactive aggression subscale of the Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ; Raine et al 2006) and a peer nomination instrument developed by Crick (1997). The reactive aggression subscale of the RPQ consists of 11 items ("How often have you become angry or mad when you don't get your way?").…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

Calvete

Orue

2011

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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This longitudinal investigation assessed whether cognitive schemas of justification of violence, mistrust, and narcissism predicted social information processing (SIP), and SIP in turn predicted aggressive behavior in adolescents. A total of 650 adolescents completed measures of cognitive schemas at Time 1, SIP in ambiguous social scenarios at Time 1 and Time 2, and reactive aggression at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 to determine whether SIP measured at Time 2 mediated between the cognitive schemas measured at Time 1 and the aggressive behavior measured at Time 3. The results showed that each schema predicted different SIP components: Justification of violence predicted aggressive response access, narcissism predicted anger and aggressive response access, and mistrust predicted more hostile attributions and less anger. Only the SIP component of aggressive response access was directly associated with reactive aggression. The mediational model was quite similar for boys and girls although some paths, such as the association between aggressive response access and reactive aggression, were higher for boys.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

Calvete

Orue

2011

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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“…6,7,8,9,49 This may be attributable to so-called 'discrepancy proportional peer influence' so that the behaviour of those at the extremes is drawn toward the group mean. 50 If this is true, it requires the presence of some less overtly deviant peers in the therapeutic group. Their absence could explain the failure of an intervention involving a group of children all of whom scored at or above the 95 th centile for teacher-rated aggression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early intervention for at risk children: 3-year follow-up

McArdle

Young

Quibell

et al. 2011

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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International audienceChildhood behavioral and emotional symptoms are linked with distress and dysfunction that may persist into adulthood. Effective and practical early prevention could make a significant contribution to the well-being of individuals and the functioning of communities. School-based targeted interventions are relatively easy and inexpensive to deliver and have been shown to reduce symptoms in the short term. The current study evaluates the 2- and 3-year outcome of targeted school-based drama group therapy (DGT) as compared to teaching maths and English. It shows a rapid decline in teacher-observed behavioral symptoms following DGT. By a year post intervention, symptom rates following both interventions converged and remained low throughout follow-up. Drama group therapy is rapidly effective in reducing symptoms. However, the findings also suggest that despite differing content, school-based small-group interventions are likely to share some effective components

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“…That is, initially highly aggressive children showed decreases of such behaviors to the mean level present in the group. However, a reverse pattern was found for initially non-aggressive children who became more aggressive, up to level that was shared with the group aggregate (Boxer et al 2005). Analysis of the mechanisms suggested that peer contagion processes within the small groups may have caused the increases in aggression among initially low aggressive children (Boxer et al 2005).…”

Section: Group-based Programs With Targeted Populationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

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

Lier

Vitaro

Eisner

2007

Eur J Crim Policy Res

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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.

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Proximal Peer-Level Effects of a Small-Group Selected Prevention on Aggression in Elementary School Children: An Investigation of the Peer Contagion Hypothesis

Cited by 95 publications

References 68 publications

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

Early intervention for at risk children: 3-year follow-up

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

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