Research predicting academic achievement from early academic, attention, and socioemotional skills has largely focused on elementary school outcomes and rarely included peer assessments of social competence. We examined associations between these early child characteristics and academic outcomes into young adulthood using the Fast Track normative…

This study examined the role of low social preference in relation to subsequent depressive symptoms, with particular attention to prior depressive symptoms, prior and concurrent aggression, mutual friendships, and peer victimization. Italian children (N = 288) were followed from grade 6 through grade 8, and American children (N = 585) were…

Four studies based on two longitudinal investigations examined the relation between social rejection and increased antisocial behavior. Found that early peer rejection (ages 6 to 8) predicted growth in aggression (at ages 10 to 12); findings were replicated in children ages 5 to 8. Rejection exacerbated antisocial development only among children…

Examined how peer acceptance and friendships moderated the link between family adversity and child externalizing behavioral problems. Found that peer acceptance in kindergarten and Grade 1 moderated the relationship between family adversity measures and externalizing behavior problems in Grade 2; friendship served as a moderator for harsh…

Two studies examined the moderating role of dyadic friendship in the developmental pathway to peer victimization. Both studies found that early harsh, punitive, and hostile family environments predicted later victimization by peers for children who had a low number of friendships. Predictive associations did not hold for children with numerous…