According to the failure model (Patterson & Capaldi, 1990), peer rejection is the intermediary link between problem behaviors and internalizing symptoms. The present study tested the model with 464 monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twin pairs (234 female, 230 male dyads). Teacher-reported reactive aggression and internalizing symptoms, and…

Aggressive behavior in middle childhood is at least partly explained by genetic factors. Nevertheless, estimations of simple effects ignore possible gene-environment interactions (G x E) or gene-environment correlations (rGE) in the etiology of aggression. The present study aimed to simultaneously test for G x E and rGE processes between…

In this study, the prevailing view that girls are pervasively more skilled in their friendships than boys was challenged by examining whether girls respond more negatively than boys when a friend violates core friendship expectations. Fourth- and fifth-grade children (n = 267) responded to vignettes depicting transgressions involving a friend's…

This study contributes to ongoing scholarship at the nexus of translational research, education reform, and the developmental and prevention sciences. It reports 2-year experimental impacts of a universal, integrated school-based intervention in social-emotional learning and literacy development on children's social-emotional, behavioral, and…

This study examined whether ethnic segregation is concurrently (fall) and prospectively (fall to spring) associated with social status among 4th- and 5th-grade African American and European American children ("n" = 713, ages 9-11 years). Segregation measures were (a) same-ethnicity favoritism in peer affiliations and (b) cross-ethnicity…

This research explored the contribution of social goal orientation, specifically, development (improving social skills and relationships), demonstration-approach (gaining positive judgments), and demonstration-avoidance (minimizing negative judgments). Children (N = 373; M age = 7.97, SD = 0.34) were followed from 2nd to 3rd grades. Validity of…

This study identified correlates and developmental antecedents that distinguish popular-aggressive elementary school children from other youth. Drawing on the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1022), popular-aggressive children were identified through teacher ratings over…

This study examined the additive and interactive effects of temperament and harsh and indulgent parenting on Chinese children's proactive and reactive aggression. Participants were 401 children (M [subscript age] = 9.29 years, 203 girls) and their parents who were recruited from 2 elementary schools in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The…

The goal of the present study was to examine whether controlling parenting contributes to the problem of physical aggression. Developmental trajectories of children's physical aggression were modeled from yearly teachers' ratings, from ages 6 to 12. Multinomial logistic regressions (N = 1,508) served to identify risk factors that distinguish…

Using the multitrait-multimethod matrix design, this study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of three selected measures of aggression in second, third, and fourth grade children based on three methods of data collection: teacher ratings, peer ratings, and self report. (BD)

This study investigates associations between social skills (aggression and prosocial behavior) and literacy achievement in a sample of low-income children (between 4 and 6 years old when the study began) during elementary school. Results revealed consistent associations between social skills and literacy achievement in the first, third, and fifth…

The social cognitive performance of aggressive and nonaggressive children was assessed under conditions of relaxation and threat. Aspects assessed included skillfulness, bias, and process. Subjects were 65 aggressive and nonaggressive boys 8- to 10-years-old. Findings were interpreted as consistent with theories of preemptive processing and…

Children's conflicts with one another during free play were observed to determine the relation between the child's rate of conflict participation and his or her rate of aggressive behavior during conflict episodes and between these variables and the degree to which the child was liked or disliked by peers. (Author/SO)

The effects of magnitude of victim's pain cues, the subject's characteristic lead of aggressiveness, and the level of prior anger arousal on aggressive behavior was studied in the elementary school boys. (ST)

Examined characteristics of 175 victimized fourth through seventh graders. It was expected that children would be more likely to anticipate tangible rewards, more likely to expect victim suffering, and less likely to expect retaliation when using aggression against victimized targets than when attacking nonvictimized targets. (RH)