Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:52:05.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developmental patterns of childhood peer relations as predictors of externalizing behavior problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Janis B. Kupersmidt*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Margaret Burchinal
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Charlotte J. Patterson
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
*
Janis B. Kupersmidt, Department of Psychology, CB #3270, Davie Hall, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.

Abstract

Developmental patterns of childhood peer relations were examined in the prediction of externalizing behavior problems in a 4-year multiple cohort longitudinal study. The participants consisted of 880 third- (M = 9.3 years) through seventh- (M = 13.4 years) grade students. Approximately half of the participants were female, one third were Black, and one third were from low-income homes. Developmental patterns of six indices of peer relations (including group acceptance, group rejection, having a reciprocated best friend, social support from best friend, conflict with best friend, and the aggressiveness of the best friend) were examined as predictors of aggression and delinquency using logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that both group and dyadic peer relations problems are risk factors for aggression and delinquency. Support was found for the cumulative risk model in the prediction of externalizing outcomes from multiple social risk factors that were additively associated with each negative outcome.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1987). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Armacost, R. L., (1989). Perceptions of stressors by high school students. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4, 443461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berndt, T. J. (1989). Obtaining support from friends in childhood and adolescence. In Belle, D. (Ed.), Children's social networks and social supports (pp. 308331). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Berndt, T. J. (1992). Friendship and friends' influence in adolescence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 156159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berndt, T. J., Laychak, A. E., & Park, K. (1990). Friends' influence on adolescents' academic achievement motivation: An experimental study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 664670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bukowski, W. M., & Hoza, B. (1989). Popularity and friendship: Issues in theory, measurement, and outcome. In Berndt, T. J. & Ladd, G. W. (Eds.), Peer relationships in child development (pp. 1545). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Gest, S. D., & Gariepy, J. L. (1988). Social networks and aggressive behavior: Peer support or peer rejection? Developmental Psychology, 24, 815823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cillessen, A. H. N., Van Lieshout, C. F. M., & Haselager, G. J. T. (1992, August). Children's problems caused by consistent rejection in early elementary school. In J. B. Kupersmidt (Chair). Longitudinal research in child psychopathology: Peer rejection and children's behavioral adjustment. Paper presented at the Centennial Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Coie, J. D. (1990). Toward a theory of peer rejection. In Asher, S. R. & Coie, J. D. (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 365401). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coie, J. D., & Dodge, K. A. (1983). Continuities and changes in children's social status: A five-year longitudinal study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29, 261282.Google Scholar
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18, 557570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1990). Peer group behavior and social status. In Asher, S. R. & Coie, J. D. (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 1759). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coie, J. D., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1983). A behavioral analysis of emerging social status in boys' groups. Child Development, 54, 14001416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coie, J. D., Lochman, J. E., Terry, R., & Hyman, C. (1992). Predicting early adolescent disorder from childhood aggression and peer rejection. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 783792.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colton, M. E., & Gore, S. (Eds.) (1991). Adolescent stress: Causes and consequences. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cressey, D. R. (1964). Delinquency, crime, and differential association. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. (1994). Children's treatment by peers: Victims of relational and overt aggression. Unpublished manuscript, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
DeRosier, M. E., Kupersmidt, J. B., & Patterson, C. J. (1994). Children's academic and behavioral adjustment as a function of the chronicity and proximity of peer rejection. Child Development, 65, 17991813.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dishion, T. J., & Loeber, R. (1985). Adolescent marijuana and alcohol use: The role of parents and peers revisited. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 11, 1125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A. (1986). Social information-processing variables in the development of aggression and altruism in children. In Zahn-Waxler, C., Cummings, E. M., & Iannotti, R. (Eds.), Altruism and aggression: Biological and social origins (pp. 280302). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Coie, J. D., & Brakke, N. P. (1982). Behavior patterns of socially rejected and neglected preadolescents: The roles of social approach and aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 10, 389410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
East, P. L., & Rook, K. S. (1992). Compensatory patterns of support among children's peer relationships: A test using school friends, nonschool friends, and siblings. Developmental Psychology, 28, 163172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Ageton, S. S. (1985). Explaining delinquency and drug use. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Epstein, J. L. (1983). The influence of friends on achievement and affective outcomes. In Epstein, J. L. & Karweit, N. (Eds.), Friends in school: Patterns of selection and influence in secondary schools (pp. 177200). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feltham, R. F., Doyle, A. B., Schwartzman, A. E., Serbin, L. A. & Ledingham, J. E. (1985). Friendship in normal and socially deviant children. Journal of Early Adolescence, 5, 371382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1985). Children's perceptions of the personal relationships in their social networks. Developmental Psychology, 21, 10161024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gold, M. (1970). Delinquent behavior in an American city. Belmont, CA: Brooks and Cole.Google Scholar
Jones, R. T., & Fiore, M. (1991, Nov). Conceptualization of self-generated stressors: Alternatives, responses, and mediators. Paper presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, New York, NY.Google Scholar
Kandel, D. B. (1978a). Homophily, selection, and socialization in adolescent friendships. American Journal of Sociology, 84, 421436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kandel, D. B. (1978b). Similarity in real-life adolescent friendship pairs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 306312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kupersmidt, J. B., & Coie, J. D. (1990). Preadolescent peer status, aggression, and school adjustment as predictors of externalizing problems in adolescence. Child Development, 61, 13501362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kupersmidt, J. B., Coie, J. D., & Dodge, K. A. (1990). The role of poor peer relationships in the development of disorder. In Asher, S. R. & Coie, J. D. (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood, Cambridge studies in social and emotional development (pp. 274305). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kupersmidt, J. B., DeRosier, M. E., & Patterson, C. J. (in press). Similarity as the basis for friendship among children: The roles of sociometric status, aggressive and withdrawn behavior, academic achievement, and demographic characteristics. Journal of Personal and Social Relationships.Google Scholar
Kupersmidt, J. B., & Patterson, C. J. (1991). Childhood peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and perceived competence as predictors of self-reported behavior problems in preadolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 19, 427449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loeber, R. (1990). Development and risk factors of juvenile antisocial behavior and delinquency. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (1986). Social groupings in childhood: Their relationship to prosocial and antisocial behavior in boys and girls. In Olweus, D., Block, J., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (Eds.), Development of antisocial and prosocial behavior: Research, theories, and issues (pp. 263284). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Newcomb, A. F., Bukowski, W. M., & Pattee, L. (1993). Children's peer relations: A meta-analytic review of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average sociometric status. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 99128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, S. F., & Bierman, K. L. (1988). Conceptions and perceived influence of peer groups: Interviews with preadolescents and adolescents. Child Development, 59, 13601365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ollendick, T. H., Weist, M. D., Borden, M. C., & Greene, R. W. (1992). Sociometric status and academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment: A five-year longitudinal study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 8087.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Developmental Psychology, 20, 611621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low-accepted children at risk? Psychological Bulletin, 102, 357389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R., & Dishion, T. J. (1985). Contributions of families and peers to delinquency. Criminology, 23, 6377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, K. S. (1984). The negative side of social interaction: Impact on psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 10971108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1983). Stress, coping, and development: Some issues and some questions. In Garmezy, N. & Rutter, M. (Eds.). Stress, coping, and development in children (pp. 141). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terry, R., Coie, J. D., Lochman, J. E., & Jacobs, M. (1992, August). Dynamic social development and its relation to middle school adjustment. In J. B. Kupersmidt (Chair), Longitudinal research in child psychopathology: Peer rejection and children's behavioral adjustment. Paper presented at the Centennial Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Yoshikawa, H. (1994). Prevention as cumulative protection: Effects of early family support and education on chronic delinquency and its risks. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 2854.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed