Social Information Processing and Coping Strategies of Shy/Withdrawn and Aggressive Children: Does Friendship Matter?

Abstract

The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reactions, and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive girls and boys and to examine whether such social cognitions differ within the relationship context of friendship. Drawn from a sample of 5 th and 6 th graders (M age = 10.79 years; SD = .77), 78 shy/withdrawn, 76 aggressive, and 85 control children were presented with hypothetical social situations that first involved unfamiliar peers, then a mutual good friend. Results revealed group and gender differences and similarities, depending on the relationship context. From our findings emerges a central message: friends' involvement during interpersonal challenges or stressors mitigates children's attributions, emotions and coping responses.The ways in which children process information about social situations and others' behaviors have been the subject of much scrutiny in the social-cognitive and developmental psychology literatures. For example, Crick and Dodge (1994) proposed that when children find themselves in social company, and when a dilemma confronts them, they first encode and interpret social cues and information; next, they access their cognitive repertoires, decide upon, and evaluate possible responses to the given situation; and lastly, they select and enact the chosen response. Researchers who have applied this model have typically reported that aggressive or rejected children attribute hostile intent to the actions of others (e.g., "The child did X on purpose to hurt or harm me."), even when the behaviors leading to untoward consequences may be objectively appraised as having an ambiguous cause (e.g., Dodge et al., 2003).More recently, Lemerise and Arsenio (2000) integrated emotional experiences within Crick and Dodge's (1994) social information processing model. For example, aggressive children's emotional reactions to problematic social situations might include frustration or anger. These emotions, in turn, may influence the information attended to, the information recalled, and the ways children respond to negative events befalling them. Non-aggressive children, particularly those who may be described as socially wary and withdrawn, may view interpersonal situations such as peer group entry as stressful and anxiety-producing; in their case, avoidance evoked by fear or wariness may be the social consequence. Thus, an inability to regulate emotional arousal under certain circumstances could influence several steps of the information processing and behavioral enactment process.Whereas the majority of attention has been devoted to the study of aggression (see Orobio de Castro, Veerman, Koops, Bosch, & Monshouwer, 2002), social information-processing models have also been proposed as being relevant for the understanding of peer victimization (Graham & Juvonen, 1998), childhood anxiety (Bell-Dolan, 1995;Daleiden & Vasey, 1997;Suarez & Bell-Dolan, 2001), and childhood/adolescent depression (e.g., Garber, Keiley, & Martin, 2002). Although not al...

Friendship in High-functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mixed and Non-mixed Dyads

“…Three basic functions-Companionship, intimacy-trust, and affection-were found to be crucial criteria distinguishing friends from non-friends among older children during preadolescence and adolescence (e.g., Buhrmester 1990;Parker and Gottman 1989). The formation and maintenance of a satisfactory friendship is an interpersonal achievement built upon a foundation of interpersonal skills (e.g., the child ability's to form affective bonding) and social cognitive skills (e.g., perspective takingTheory of mind) (e.g., Burgess et al 2006;Newcomb and Bagwell 1996;Parker et al 1995;Rose and Asher 2000).…”

Integration Between Social Information Processing and Social-Emotional Competence

“…These agents of socialization serve as a model for behavior in instruction and illustration of social values, facilitate the internalization of values and the drawing of moral conclusions, and influence the interpretation given by the children to the different behaviors (Eisenberg 1995;Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998). Hence, the educational frameworks have an important role -to mediate between factors of risk such as sociodemographic situation (Runions & Keating, 2007) or factors of resilience such as prosocial behavior and friendships in childhood (Burgess, Wojslawowicz, Rubin, Rose-Krasnor, & Booth-LaForce, 2006;Nelson & Crick, 1999) and social adjustment. Contemporary research studies show that mediation for social behavior through processes of social information processing begins already at the age of the kindergarten (Ziv, 2012).…”

“…Additional research studies conducted in the field found that distorted patterns of social information processing can be expressed not only in aggressive behavior but also in regressive behavior and social isolation (Dodge et al, 1990). Burgess, Wojslawowicz, Rubin, Rose-Krasnor, and LaForce (2006) proposed that regressive children are characterized by different thinking patterns regarding interpersonal interaction, which were influenced by social experiences of social rejection and victimization. A research study that examined the influence of friendships on the process of social information processing of regressive/shy children found that in contrast to aggressive children these children tended to attribute less external blame and hostile intentions to a familiar peer than to an unfamiliar peer and even tended less to attribute internal blame in cases in which familiar peers were involved (Burgess et al, 2006).…”

“…Burgess, Wojslawowicz, Rubin, Rose-Krasnor, and LaForce (2006) proposed that regressive children are characterized by different thinking patterns regarding interpersonal interaction, which were influenced by social experiences of social rejection and victimization. A research study that examined the influence of friendships on the process of social information processing of regressive/shy children found that in contrast to aggressive children these children tended to attribute less external blame and hostile intentions to a familiar peer than to an unfamiliar peer and even tended less to attribute internal blame in cases in which familiar peers were involved (Burgess et al, 2006). Nelson and Crick (1999) chose, unlike many other research studies that examined the relation between social information processing and aggression, to examine the relation between social information processing and prosocial behavior.…”

Examining Social Anxiety Among Adolescents in Accordance with Coping with Stress Approaches

“…Stresle başa çıkma ile sosyal kaygı arasındaki ilişkilerin incelendiği araştırmalarda (Findlay, Coplan ve Bowker, 2009;Burgess, Wojslawowicz, Rubin, Krasnor ve LaForce, 2006;Baltacı ve Hamarta, 2013) sosyal kaygılı bireylerin daha çok duygu odaklı stresle başa çıkma (kaçınma gibi) stratejilerini kullanması yani uygun olmayan (maladaptive)stratejiler kullanması araştırma bulguları ile benzerlik göstermektedir. Stresle etkili olarak başa çıkabilen üniversite öğrencilerinin probleme yönelik yöntemlerden kendine güvenli ve iyimser yaklaşımları daha fazla kullandıkları, başa çıkamayanların ise duyguya yönelik yöntemlerden boyun eğici ve çaresiz yaklaşımları daha fazla kullanmaktadırlar (Razı, Kuzu, Yıldız ve Arifoğlu, 2009).…”