This study explored the short-term longitudinal associations between Five Factor Model (FFM) and social goals (social dominance, popularity, and intimacy), with relational aggression (RAgg) as a mediator. RAgg was claimed to mediate the positive correlations of neuroticism with dominance and popularity, whereas extraversion was argued to…

Ostracism and dark triad personality traits have been found to be linked with social media addiction. Despite the well-established relationship between the dark triad (i.e., narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and social media addiction, there is limited research on their mediating effect. In the present study, we tested a hypothetical…

This study investigates the role of character strengths in peer relationships among early adolescents. A sample of students (N = 339; [X bar] age = 12.84 years, 53.1% female) nominated friends in the classroom and completed assessments of character strengths, the desirability and importance of character strengths in a friend, and friendship…

As more than just knowledge and skills, The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) key competencies encompass dispositions for lifelong learning (OECD, 2005). A range of studies associate learner agency within the dispositions that are embedded in these key competencies (Carr, 2004; Hipkins, 2010; Hipkins & Boyd, 2011). Drawn…

This study examined the behavioral, personality, and communicative predictors of acceptance and popularity in 608 early adolescents. Data were collected with sociometric methods and ratings in 30 sixth-grade classrooms. Hierarchical regressions were run to predict acceptance and popularity from prosocial, antisocial, and withdrawn behavior,…

This project examines the adjustment sequelae of perceived popularity beyond high school, and the moderating role of relational aggression (RA) in this process. Yearly sociometric measures of popularity and RA were gathered across grades 9-12 for a sample of 264 adolescents in a lower-middle-class high school. In addition, data on post-high school…

Napoleon Dynamite, the quirky hit film from 2004, is a fascinating portrayal of a teenager with social difficulties. The character Napoleon provokes intriguing diagnostic questions in distinguishing between mental illness and the spectrum of normal behavior. He demonstrates several symptoms of Asperger's disorder, yet he also challenges the notion…

Evaluates a multivariate model of youthful marijuana use. The model includes the symbolic-protest function and the peer-acceptance function, marijuana use for gaining acceptance from permissive peers. Support for the model comes from close correspondence between observed and predicted correlations and the low, nonsignificant value of the…

Recent studies have suggested the existence of three personality types: resilients, overcontrollers, and undercontrollers. In this article, we searched for subtypes within each of the three main personality types. Using cluster analysis on the Big Five personality self-descriptions of 3,284 Dutch adolescent boys and girls, we distinguished…

Asserts that effective children and adolescents can engage in socially undesirable behavior to attain personal goals at relatively little personal or interpersonal cost, implying that relations between adjustment and aggression may not be optimally described by standard linear models. Suggests that if researchers recognize that some aggression…

This investigation compared 19 adolescents' perceptions of the nonspeech personality characteristics of voice-disordered and normal-speaking children. Listeners, who rated recorded speech samples, showed a significant tendency to judge the normal speakers more positively than the voice-disordered speakers. Results suggest developmental trends in…

When 340 extremely mathematically or verbally talented 13 year olds were compared to 111 modestly gifted students, no differences were found in group activity participation or personality traits. In their ratings of peer perceptions, the modestly gifted exceeded the extremely gifted in being considered athletic and popular and in social standing.…

This longitudinal study examined consistency and change in human personality. Rather than studying the consistency of individual differences over time, an approach which considers only the stability of a variable at the group level and ignores differences in stability at an individual level, this study used a person-centered approach to study…

Examined a risk-resilience model of peer rejection and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a 5-year longitudinal study of 209 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse girls aged 6-13 at baseline and 11-18 at follow-up. Risk factors were childhood ADHD diagnosis and peer rejection; hypothesized protective factors were childhood…