Social Costs for Wannabes: Moderating Effects of Popularity and Gender on the Links between Popularity Goals and Negative Peer Experiences

Breslend, Nicole Lafko; Shoulberg, Erin K.; McQuade, Julia D.; Murray‐Close, Dianna

doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0810-0

Cited by 14 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…The findings align with and extend research indicating low-status (i.e., non-popular) youth are more susceptible to the influence of best friend aggressive characteristics (Sijtsema, 2016). Best friends share a close emotional bond (Rubin et al, 2009), which provides a safe and intimate context for low-status youth to engage in aggressive behaviors (Adler & Adler, 1998;Breslend et al, 2018). It is plausible that low-status youth may feel compelled to imitate best friend aggression as a way to demonstrate loyalty and reinforce the relationship more so than high-status youth (Berndt, 2002;Dishion & Tipsord, 2011;Scholte et al, 2009).…”

Section: Associations Of Peer Relationships and Coolness With Aggressionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Regarding the moderation effect of coolness, we expected stronger associations between peer group (vs. best friend) aggressive characteristics and individual aggression among cool youth, especially relational aggression based on research examining high-status youth (Stotsky & Bowker, 2018; Xie et al, 2002). We expected stronger associations between best friend (vs. peer group) aggressive characteristics and aggression for non-cool youth based on research examining low-status youth (Breslend et al, 2018; Sijtsema, 2016).…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For non-cool youth, we expected stronger associations between best friend (vs. peer group) aggressive characteristics and later individual aggression. Best friends provide a safe, intimate context for low-status youth to engage in activities that may incur negative feedback from other peers (Breslend, Shoulberg, McQuade, & Murray-Close, 2018). Research indicates associations of best friend aggressive characteristics with aggression are stronger among adolescents with lower peer status (Sijtsema, 2016).…”

Section: Coolness As a Moderatormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Associations of Early Adolescents’ Best Friendships, Peer Groups, and Coolness With Overt and Relational Aggression

Wang

Kiefer

Smith

et al. 2019

The Journal of Early Adolescence

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This study examined associations of best friend and peer group aggressive characteristics with students’ overt and relational aggression, and whether coolness moderated these associations across the fall and spring of the first year in middle school. Students ( N = 174; 57% females) self-reported best friendship and peer group members, as well as peer-nominated coolness and aggression (overt, relational). Results indicated positive relations of best friend and peer group aggressive characteristics with subsequent aggression, and that coolness moderated these associations. Specifically, non-cool youth had higher levels of subsequent overt and relational aggression with aggressive best friends, but lower levels of later relational aggression when in relationally aggressive peer groups. In contrast, cool youth had lower levels of subsequent relational aggression with relationally aggressive best friends, but higher levels of later relational aggression when in relationally aggressive peer groups. Implications for examining multiple peer contexts and coolness during early adolescence are discussed.

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Section: Associations Of Peer Relationships and Coolness With Aggressionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coolness As a Moderatormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Associations of Early Adolescents’ Best Friendships, Peer Groups, and Coolness With Overt and Relational Aggression

Wang

Kiefer

Smith

et al. 2019

The Journal of Early Adolescence

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“…Dittrick and colleagues (2011) found that boys were more often harassed or bullied due to their level of popularity or lack of characteristics valued by peers. In contrast, prioritising popularity over other social goals has been shown to reduce the risk of peer rejection and victimization among unpopular boys but not girls (Breslend, Shoulberg, McQuade, & Murray-Close, 2018). Collectively, these studies indicate that social demonstration goals may be more normative for boys and that seeking positive or minimizing negative evaluations from peers can have protective effects for boys, especially against social exclusion in adolescence.…”

Section: Gender Differences In Adolescents' Social Goals Academic Gomentioning

confidence: 83%

Beyond academic achievement goals: The importance of social achievement goals in explaining gender differences in self-handicapping

McLellan

2019

Learning and Individual Differences

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Boys show less adaptive behaviour and engagement than girls at school. Much research has examined gender differences in academic motivation to explain gender differences in school engagement. However, students engage in schools both academically and socially, and gender differences in social motivation may further contribute to the gender gap in academic engagement. In this study, 536 secondary school students in England (ages 13-14) reported their social achievement goals, academic achievement goals, and self-handicapping behaviours. Boys were more likely to adopt social demonstration goals, performance-approach and -avoidance goals, and reported greater behavioural self-handicapping. Moreover, structural equation models showed that social demonstration goals uniquely mediated the relationship between gender and selfhandicapping, beyond the effect of performance-avoidance goals. Results highlight the importance of social achievement goals in explaining gender differences in self-handicapping. The findings suggest that educators need to attend to adolescents' social goals in addition to their academic goals in secondary school.

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“…The associations between popularity, popularity goal, and behavior may also be related to the (mis)match between youth's popularity and popularity goal. In other words, youth who want to be popular (and also are popular) may have different behavioral profiles than youth who want to be popular but are not popular (i.e., "wannabes": Breslend et al 2018). Future research could identify subtypes of adolescents based on their overlap of popularity and popularity goal and compare their adjustment (e.g., aggression) over time.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bidirectional Associations between Popularity, Popularity Goal, and Aggression, Alcohol Use and Prosocial Behaviors in Adolescence: A 3-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Malamut

Berg

Lansu

et al. 2020

J Youth Adolescence

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Adolescents' popularity and popularity goal have been shown to be related to their aggression and alcohol use. As intervention efforts increasingly aim to focus on prosocial alternatives for youth to gain status, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of how popularity and popularity goal are associated with aggression and substance use as well as prosocial behaviors over time. The current study examined the bidirectional associations of aggression (overt and relational aggression), alcohol use, and prosocial behavior with popularity and popularity goal in adolescence across 3 years using cross-lagged panel analyses. Participants were 839 Dutch adolescents (M age = 13.36, SD = 0.98; 51.3% girls). The results indicated that popularity was consistently positively associated with popularity goal, but popularity goal did not significantly predict subsequent popularity. Popularity positively predicted elevated aggression and alcohol use, but lower levels of prosocial behavior. For the full sample, alcohol use and overt aggression in grade 7 both predicted subsequent popularity in grade 8. However, when considering gender differences, overt aggression no longer was a significant predictor of popularity. These results were discussed in terms of the dynamic interplay between popularity, popularity goal, and behaviors, and in terms of implications for prevention and intervention efforts.

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Social Costs for Wannabes: Moderating Effects of Popularity and Gender on the Links between Popularity Goals and Negative Peer Experiences

Cited by 14 publications

References 70 publications

Associations of Early Adolescents’ Best Friendships, Peer Groups, and Coolness With Overt and Relational Aggression

Associations of Early Adolescents’ Best Friendships, Peer Groups, and Coolness With Overt and Relational Aggression

Beyond academic achievement goals: The importance of social achievement goals in explaining gender differences in self-handicapping

Bidirectional Associations between Popularity, Popularity Goal, and Aggression, Alcohol Use and Prosocial Behaviors in Adolescence: A 3-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

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