The Meaningful Roles Intervention: An Evolutionary Approach to Reducing Bullying and Increasing Prosocial Behavior

Physical Education Teachers' Perceptions of and Strategies for Managing Bullying: The Influence of Socialization

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how teachers' socialization experiences influence their perceptions of and responses to bullying. Methods: Thirty in-service physical education teachers were recruited to participate. One semi-structured, individual interview was conducted with each participant lasting approximately 60 minutes. Data analysis employed inductive and deductive techniques. Results: Two themes emerged that described teachers' perceptions of and responses to bullying. These themes included: (a) socialization experiences and socializing agents influence teachers' perceptions and behaviors in relation to bullying, and (b) teachers have developed strategies to address bullying but also experience significant challenges. Discussion: The current study suggests that while enrolled in a physical education teacher education program, preservice teachers should be provided greater knowledge about and strategies for addressing bullying. In-service teachers are encouraged to pursue professional development that increases their self-efficacy in managing bullying.

Giving It a Shot with a Different Approach: Prosocial Strategies Moderate the Joint Effects of Agentic and Communal Goals on Bullying

This study uses polynomial regression and response surface analyses to investigate the joint effects of agentic and communal goals on bullying and the moderating role of prosocial strategies. The sample included 917 adolescents (Mage = 13.54, SD = 1.02) from rural, suburban, and urban areas in China. The findings revealed that higher agentic and lower communal goals were associated with a linear rise in bullying. Surprisingly, when both social goals were higher simultaneously, bullying followed an inverted U-shaped pattern. Furthermore, prosocial strategies moderated the joint effects of the two social goals. Adolescents who are more likely to use prosocial strategies do not show significant changes in bullying when both goals are at a higher level. In contrast, those who are less likely to do so show a linear rise in bullying, regardless of changes in social goals. This study improves our understanding and intervention of bullying behavior, emphasizing a non-pathological perspective.

Positive and Negative Leadership in Late Childhood: Similarities in Individual but Differences in Interpersonal Characteristics

Previous research has shown that leadership is associated not only with positive but also with negative characteristics and behaviors; knowledge of the similarities and differences between positive and negative leaders remains insufficient. This study aimed to examine (1) the existence of different subtypes of leaders and (2) to what extent these leaders differed on individual and interpersonal characteristics. The sample contained 9213 students in grades 3-6 (Dutch grades 5-8), from 392 classrooms in 98 schools (50.3% girls, Mage = 10.13 ± 1.23 years). Latent profile analysis identified three leader profiles and four non-leader profiles based on peer nominations received for leadership, popularity, and positive (defending) and negative (bullying) behavior: (1) positive leaders, (2) negative leaders, (3) non-popular leaders, (4) popular children, (5) bullies, (6) extreme bullies, and (7) modal children. Multinomial logistic regression showed similarities and differences between positive and negative leaders, as well as between each of these and the other five profiles. Positive leaders were more accepted and less rejected and had more friendships than negative leaders, but the differences in individual characteristics (self-esteem, self-control, and social goals) were less clear. This study demonstrated that 10-15% of the children were perceived as leaders, and that positive leadership became more prevalent in the higher grades. Nevertheless, negative leadership occurred also in the higher grades. Interventions aimed at turning negative leaders into positive leaders may work, because positive and negative leaders do not differ greatly in individual characteristics. Such interventions may improve the relationships of negative leaders with their classmates, which may be good for their likeability (but not at the expense of their popularity) as well as for the social atmosphere in the class as a whole.

The effectiveness of the Dutch Meaningful Roles program in children: a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND

A positive, prosocial classroom climate is associated with improved social competence and academic achievement, as well as with decreased internalizing problems and antisocial behavior in children. It is expected that motivation to behave prosocially is needed to achieve a prosocial climate in the classroom, and that such motivation can be enhanced through three components of self-determination theory (SDT): competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The goal of this protocol is to describe the design of a study aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of a classroom-based program based on SDT components promoting a prosocial classroom climate.

METHODS

A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to examine the effectiveness of the classroom-based program Meaningful Roles, aiming to improve prosocial classroom climate through increasing children's intrinsic prosocial motivation, stimulated by increasing social autonomy, social competence, and social relatedness. A multi-informant (i.e., children, teachers, and school leaders) and multi-method (i.e., questionnaires and focus groups) approach will be used to assess primary outcomes (i.e., prosocial behavior, intrinsic (prosocial) motivation, social autonomy, social competence, and social relatedness) and secondary outcomes (i.e., school wellbeing, social position, bullying, victimization, and civic skills), as well as moderators (i.e., working elements, child, teacher, school, and program characteristics, and program integrity).

DISCUSSION

The current study will provide information on the effectiveness of a classroom-based program promoting a prosocial classroom climate. It is of crucial importance that the school environment can provide a positive, prosocial classroom climate in which children feel safe and can achieve optimal social and academic competence and wellbeing.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials ( NCT05891067 ).

Bullying and the Abuse of Power

Dan Olweus pioneered research on school bullying and identified the importance of, and risk factors associated with, bullying and victimization. In this paper, we conduct a narrative review of the critical notion of power within bullying. Specifically, we discuss Olweus's definition of bullying and the role of a power imbalance in distinguishing bullying behavior from other forms of aggression. Next, we discuss the changing nature of research on aggression (and the adaptiveness of aggression) throughout the years, the important role of power in these changes, and how the concept of power in relationships has helped elucidate the developmental origins of bullying. We discuss bullying interventions and the potential opportunities for interventions to reduce bullying by making conditions for bullying less favorable and beneficial. Finally, we discuss bullying and the abuse of power that extends beyond the school context and emerges within families, workplaces, and governments. By recognizing and defining school bullying as an abuse of power and a violation of human rights, Olweus has laid the foundation and created the impetus for researching and addressing bullying. This review highlights the importance of examining abuses of power not only in school relationships, but across human relationships and society in general.

When do bystanders get help from teachers or friends? Age and group membership matter when indirectly challenging social exclusion

We examined developmental changes in British children’s (8- to 10-year-olds) and adolescents’ (13- to 15-year-olds, N = 340; Female N = 171, 50.3%) indirect bystander reactions (i.e., judgments about whether to get help and from whom when witnessing social exclusion) and their social-moral reasoning regarding their reactions to social exclusion. We also explored, for the first time, how the group membership of the excluder and victim affect participants’ reactions. Participants read a hypothetical scenario in which they witnessed a peer being excluded from a school club by another peer. We manipulated the group membership of the victim (either British or an immigrant) and the group membership of the excluder (either British or an immigrant). Participants’ likelihood of indirect bystander reactions decreased from childhood into adolescence. Children were more likely to get help from a teacher or an adult than getting help from a friend, whereas adolescents were more likely to get help from a friend than getting help from a teacher or an adult. For both indirect bystander reactions, children justified their likelihood of responding by referring to their trust in their teachers and friends. Adolescents were more likely to refer to group loyalty and dynamics, and psychological reasons. The findings support and extend the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) approach by showing the importance of group processes with age in shaping children’s judgments about how to respond indirectly by asking for help from others, when they are bystanders in a situation that involves exclusion. The findings have practical implications for combating social exclusion and promoting prosocial bystander behavior in schools.

Evolutionarily relevant aggressive functions: Differentiating competitive, impression management, sadistic and reactive motives

This study investigated early adolescents' (ages 9-14; M = 11.91) self-reported, evolutionarily relevant motives for using aggression, including competitive, impression management, sadistic, and reactive functions, and examined differential relations with a range of psychosocial characteristics. As expected, competitive functions were associated with aggression and victimization in which the perpetrator had equal or less power than the victim, in line with the view that these are aversive and appetitive motives related to competition with rivals. Impression management and sadistic functions were associated with bullying and coercive resource control strategies (the latter for boys only), consistent with expectations that these are appetitive motives, with the former being more goal-directed and the latter somewhat more impulsive. Finally, as hypothesized, reactive functions were associated with emotional symptoms, hostility, victimization by bullying, and aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim, consistent with theory and research conceptualizing reactive aggression as an impulsive, emotion-driven response to provocation. The benefits of studying a wide range of evolutionarily relevant aggressive functions are discussed.

The effects of sex and outcome expectancies on perceptions of sexual harassment

Using an outcome expectancy framework, this research sought to understand sex differences in the underlying beliefs that influence harassment perception. One hundred and ninety-six participants (52% women) read a series of vignettes depicting common examples of digital male-on-female sexual harassment. They were asked to what extent they thought each scenario constituted sexual harassment, and how likely the perpetrator would experience positive and negative outcomes. Consistent with predictions, women were more likely to consider the behaviours as harassment than men were. Both sexes harassment perceptions had significant relationships with their outcome expectancies, but we also found evidence of a sex specific moderation; the link between men's negative outcome expectancies was moderated by their positive ones. The results suggest that perceptions of harassment may have sexually asymmetrical underpinnings. Measuring the interplay between positive and negative outcome expectancies in relation to sexual harassment perception is a novel approach, that may have implications for the development of anti-sexual harassment interventions. Implications for theory and future research directions are discussed.

Bullying Prevention in Adolescence: Solutions and New Challenges from the Past Decade

Bullying among youth at school continues to be a global challenge. Being exposed to bullying may be especially hurtful in adolescence, a vulnerable period during which both peer group belonging and status become key concerns. In the current review, we first summarize the effectiveness of the solutions that were offered a decade ago in the form of anti-bullying programs. We proceed by highlighting some intriguing challenges concomitant to, or emerging from these solutions, focusing especially on their relevance during adolescence. These challenges are related to (1) the relatively weak, and highly variable effects of anti-bullying programs, (2) the complex associations among bullying, victimization, and social status, (3) the questions raised regarding the beneficial (or possibly iatrogenic) effects of peer defending, and (4) the healthy context paradox, that is, the phenomenon of remaining or emerging victims being worse off in contexts where the average levels of victimization decrease. We end by providing some suggestions for the next decade of research in the area of bullying prevention among adolescents.

Contextualizing the Social and Educational Journeys of Adolescents within the Life Course

What happens during adolescence emerges from early in life and sets the stage for later in life. This linking function of adolescence within the life course is grounded in social, psychological, and biological development and is fundamental to the intergenerational transmission of societal inequalities. This article explores this life course phenomenon by focusing on how the social ups and downs of secondary school shape adolescents' educational trajectories, translating their backgrounds into their futures through the interplay of their personal agency with the constraints imposed by the stratified institutions they navigate. Illustrative examples include gender differences in risky behavior, racialized experiences of school discipline, immigrant youths' family relations, LGBTQ students' school safety, STEM education, adverse childhood experiences, and mindset interventions.

The Impact of Childhood Bullying Trajectories on Young Adulthood Antisocial Trajectories

Long-term outcomes of childhood bullying perpetration have been explored, but heterogeneity in outcomes reflecting nonclinical antisocial tendencies including indirect aggression, psychopathic personality, and interpersonal relations have not been examined from a person-centered approach. Accordingly, latent class growth analyses were used to examine trajectory groups of childhood bullying perpetration across ages 10 to 18 and multi-trajectory groups of young adulthood outcomes across ages 19 to 23 (indirect aggression, psychopathic personality, interpersonal relations). In a sample of 701 participants (52.9% girls/women) followed annually, the majority of individuals reflected a low stable trajectory of bullying (81.2%) and fewer reflected moderate increasing bullying (18.8%). In young adulthood, the majority of participants reflected a prosocial multi-trajectory profile (61.6%; below average decreasing indirect aggression, below average decreasing psychopathy, above average stable interpersonal relations). Fewer participants reflected a below average antisocial profile (21.6%; below average decreasing indirect aggression, below average stable psychopathy, below average stable interpersonal relations) or an above average antisocial profile (16.8%; above average decreasing indirect aggression, above average decreasing psychopathy, below average stable interpersonal relations). Individuals following the moderate bullying trajectory in childhood had a significantly higher odds of following the above average antisocial profile but not the prosocial profile in young adulthood, when contrasted against the below average antisocial profile. These findings indicate that the prevention of childhood bullying can help prevent the continuity of an antisocial profile in young adulthood that is characterized by continued aggressive behavior, higher psychopathy, and poorer quality relationships.

Childhood Predictors of Adolescent Joint Trajectories: A Multi-Informant Study on Bullying Perpetration and Hypercompetitiveness

Objective: Bullying perpetration has been proposed to be a strategic behavior used by adolescents to compete for social resources, yet the co-development of bullying perpetration and trait hypercompetitiveness is understudied. The joint developmental trajectories of self-rated bullying perpetration and parent-rated hypercompetitiveness were investigated in a sample of adolescents and childhood social, emotional, and physical predictors were explored.Method: In a sample of 607 adolescents (M_age = 13.02 years in Grade 7 [SD = 0.38]; 54.4% girls; 76.4% White) self-rated bullying perpetration and parent-rated hypercompetitiveness were assessed across six years of development (Grades 7 to 12). Childhood (i.e., Grades 5 and 6) social, emotional, and physical predictors of trajectory group membership were also examined.Results: Using latent class growth analyses, the three expected joint trajectory groups of primary interest were found: (1) a pattern of moderate stable bullying perpetration and high increasing hypercompetitiveness (high-risk group), (2) a pattern of low decreasing bullying and high increasing hypercompetitiveness (hypercompetitive only group), and (3) a pattern of low decreasing bullying and low stable hypercompetitiveness (low-risk group). Adolescents reflecting the high-risk joint trajectory pattern were differentiated from adolescents reflecting the other two trajectory patterns by having more adverse childhood social, emotional, and physical predictors.Conclusions: Findings indicate that bullying is a developmental and context-dependent behavior that can reflect trait hypercompetitiveness. Bullying prevention efforts should focus on reducing emphasis on outcompeting peers and instead facilitate a sense of self-acceptance, awareness, and accomplishment within prosocial school and family environments.

HEXACO personality correlates of adolescents' involvement in bullying situations

Adolescents' involvement in bullying situations is—at least partially—personality trait‐activated. Although some studies investigated personality correlates of bullying and being victimized, little is known about personality correlates of bystander responses (i.e., reinforcing, outsider behavior, indirect defending, and direct defending). The present study investigated whether Dutch adolescents' self‐reported HEXACO personality traits could explain their peer‐reported involvement in bullying (N = 552; M_age = 13.4 years, SD = 0.8 years). The results show that bullying was negatively related to honesty‐humility, emotionality, agreeableness (for boys specifically), and openness, whereas reinforcing was only negatively related to honesty‐humility and openness. Conversely, direct defending and outsider behavior were positively related to honesty‐humility, emotionality, and openness, whereas indirect defending was only positively related to emotionality and openness. Furthermore, reinforcing was positively related to extraversion (for boys only), whereas outsider behavior was negatively related extraversion and positively to conscientiousness. Finally, being victimized was positively related to emotionality and negatively to extraversion. These findings contribute to our understanding of the heterogeneity in adolescents' involvement in bullying and fit the view of bullying and defending as strategic and goal‐directed behavior. Implications for bullying prevention programs are discussed.

The Role of Aggressive Peer Norms in Elementary School Children's Perceptions of Classroom Peer Climate and School Adjustment

Although prior research has indicated that peer norms for aggression enhance the spread of aggression in classrooms, it is unclear to date how these norms relate to students’ classroom climate perceptions and school adjustment. Aggressive descriptive norms reflect the average aggression of all students in classrooms, whereas aggressive popularity norms represent the extent to which aggressive behavior relates to popularity among peers. This study examined the role of aggressive descriptive and popularity norms in the classroom climate perceptions (cooperation, conflict, cohesion, isolation) and school adjustment (feelings of belonging; social, academic, and general self-esteem) of popular, well-liked, and victimized children. Self-reported and peer-nominated data were obtained from 1511 children (M_age = 10.60 years, SD = 0.50; 47.2% girls) from 58 fifth-grade classrooms. The results indicated that aggressive descriptive and popularity norms both matter in elementary school, but in diverging ways. Specifically, aggressive descriptive norms—rather than popularity norms—contributed to negative classroom climate perceptions irrespective of students’ social position. In addition, whereas descriptive norms contributed to between-classroom variations in some aspects of school adjustment, aggressive popularity norms related to increased school maladjustment for popular and victimized children specifically. Thus, aggressive descriptive norms and popularity norms matter in complementary ways for children’s classroom climate perceptions and adjustment in elementary education.

Who Sets the Aggressive Popularity Norm in Classrooms? It's the Number and Strength of Aggressive, Prosocial, and Bi-Strategic Adolescents

Previous work has shown that during adolescence, classrooms vary greatly in the extent to which aggression is rewarded with popularity (the ‘popularity norm’). Aggressive popularity norms may promote the proliferation of aggression and negatively affect the classroom climate. It is, however, unknown how these norms emerge in the first place. This longitudinal study therefore investigated whether aggressive popularity norms can be predicted by the classroom composition of students. We examined whether the prevalence of six student types - socially and non-socially dominant prosocial, aggressive, and bi-strategic adolescents (adolescents who are both highly prosocial and aggressive) - contributed to the norm by establishing a popularity hierarchy: strong classroom asymmetries in popularity. We collected peer-nominated data at three secondary schools in the Netherlands (SNARE-study; N_students = 2843; N_classrooms = 120; 51.4% girls; M_age = 13.2). Classroom-level regression analyses suggest that the classroom percentage of socially dominant aggressive and bi-strategic students predicted higher aggressive popularity norms, both directly and by enhancing the classrooms’ popularity hierarchy. Instead, the presence of non-socially dominant aggressive students and socially dominant prosocial students contributed to lower aggressive popularity norms. Socially dominant prosocial students also buffered against the role of socially dominant aggressive adolescents in the aggressive popularity norm (moderation), but not against bi-strategic adolescents’ role. Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at reducing aggressive popularity norms should first and foremost take the composition of classrooms at the start of the school year into account; and should not only encourage prosocial behavior, but also actively discourage aggression.

Bullying and Victimization Trajectories in the First Years of Secondary Education: Implications for Status and Affection

Bullying is known to be associated with social status, but it remains unclear how bullying involvement over time relates to social position (status and affection), especially in the first years at a new school. The aim of this study was to investigate whether (the development of) bullying and victimization was related to the attainment of status (perceived popularity) and affection (friendships, acceptance, rejection) in the first years of secondary education (six waves). Using longitudinal data spanning the first- and second year of secondary education of 824 adolescents (51.5% girls; M_age T1 = 12.54, SD = 0.45) in the SNARE-study, joint bullying and victimization trajectories were estimated using parallel Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA). The four trajectories (decreasing bully, stable high bully, decreasing victim, uninvolved) were related to adolescents’ social position using multigroup analysis that examined differences in slope and intercepts (T1 and T6) of social positions, and indicated that the relative social position of the different joint trajectories was determined at the start of secondary education and did not change over time, with one exception: adolescents continuing bullying were besides being popular also increasingly rejected over time. Although bullying is functional behavior that serves to optimize adolescents’ social position, anti-bullying interventions may account for the increasing lack of affection that may hinder bullies’ long-term social development.

The Role of Defending Norms in Victims' Classroom Climate Perceptions and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Secondary School

Victims of bullying are at increased risk of developing psychosocial problems. It is often claimed that it helps victims when others stand up against the bullying and when defending is typical (descriptive norm) or rewarded with popularity (popularity norm) in classrooms. However, recent work on the healthy context paradox suggests that victims – paradoxically – tend to do worse in more positive classrooms. Therefore, it is possible that defending norms are counterproductive and exacerbate victims’ adjustment difficulties, possibly because social maladjustment is more apparent in classrooms where everybody else is doing well. The current study examined whether descriptive and popularity norms for defending predicted victims’ classroom climate perceptions and psychosocial adjustment. Using data of 1,206 secondary school students from 45 classrooms (M_age = 13.61), multi-level analyses indicated that descriptive norms for defending increased rather than decreased negative classroom climate perceptions and maladjustment of victimized youths. In contrast, popularity norms for defending positively predicted all students’ classroom climate perceptions and feelings of belonging, except victims’ self-esteem. Interventions may benefit more from promoting popularity norms for defending rather than descriptive norms for defending in secondary schools.

The PAX Good Behavior Game: One Model for Evolving a More Nurturing Society

This paper describes the culture and components of the PAX Good Behavior Game and offers it as one model for how to enhance the well-being of populations through the diffusion of nurturing practices into several venues of society. The PAX components, also known as evidence-based kernels, are proposed to be useful in classrooms, families, organizations, criminal justice, and in improving public discussion and government. Kernels affect behavior in the short- and long-term through combinations of antecedents, reinforcers, relational networks, and physiological effects. Identifying common strategies, tools, and clear targets of change is suggested as a way to work towards evolving freely available evidence-based tools that can be combined to improve social conditions in multiple contexts.

How to Get the Biggest Slice of the Cake. A Comparative View of Social Behaviour and Resource Access in Human Children and Nonhuman Primates

Social complexity results from engaging in different classes of social behaviour. The presence of different classes of social behaviour is reflected in multidimensional concepts of social asymmetry, found in both human and nonhuman primates. Based on an overview of such concepts, we propose that three classes of social behaviour are involved in having access to scarce and desired resources: next to aggressive and affiliative behaviour, also action indicating behaviour (i.e., inspire another individual to follow one's example or intentions) may lead to resource access. Studies with nonhuman primate and human children show that the contribution of aggression and affiliation to resource access has been widely documented and that there is initial support for action indicating behaviour. In addition, the studies show similarities and differences in conceptualization and approach that may inspire future research. Future research should address the (in)dependency of the behavioural dimensions, their relative importance, individual differences in combined expression and the type of resources accessed. Only a multi-dimensional view on behaviour leading to resource access will highlight the benefits of social complexity.

Can Self-Persuasion Reduce Hostile Attribution Bias in Young Children?

Two experiments tested an intervention approach to reduce young children's hostile attribution bias and aggression: self-persuasion. Children with high levels of hostile attribution bias recorded a video-message advocating to peers why story characters who caused a negative outcome may have had nonhostile intentions (self-persuasion condition), or they simply described the stories (control condition). Before and after the manipulation, hostile attribution bias was assessed using vignettes of ambiguous provocations. Study 1 (n = 83, age 4-8) showed that self-persuasion reduced children's hostile attribution bias. Study 2 (n = 121, age 6-9) replicated this finding, and further showed that self-persuasion was equally effective at reducing hostile attribution bias as was persuasion by others (i.e., listening to an experimenter advocating for nonhostile intentions). Effects on aggressive behavior, however, were small and only significant for one out of four effects tested. This research provides the first evidence that self-persuasion may be an effective approach to reduce hostile attribution bias in young children.

Third-Party Intervention in Peer Victimization: Self-Evaluative Emotions and Appraisals of a Diverse Adolescent Sample

African American, European American, Mexican American, and Native American adolescents (N = 270) described how they felt and appraised their own actions in response to a peer's victimization. Analyses compared times they had calmed victim emotions, amplified anger, avenged, and resolved conflicts peacefully. Adolescents felt prouder, more helpful, more like a good friend, and expected more peer approval after calming and resolving than after amplifying anger or avenging peers. They also felt less guilt and shame after calming and resolving. Avenging elicited more positive self-evaluation than amplifying. Epistemic network analyses explored links between self-evaluative and other emotions. Pride was linked to relief after efforts to calm or resolve. Third-party revenge reflected its antisocial and prosocial nature with connections between pride, relief, anger, and guilt.

Bidirectional Associations between Popularity, Popularity Goal, and Aggression, Alcohol Use and Prosocial Behaviors in Adolescence: A 3-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Adolescents' popularity and popularity goal have been shown to be related to their aggression and alcohol use. As intervention efforts increasingly aim to focus on prosocial alternatives for youth to gain status, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of how popularity and popularity goal are associated with aggression and substance use as well as prosocial behaviors over time. The current study examined the bidirectional associations of aggression (overt and relational aggression), alcohol use, and prosocial behavior with popularity and popularity goal in adolescence across 3 years using cross-lagged panel analyses. Participants were 839 Dutch adolescents (M_age = 13.36, SD = 0.98; 51.3% girls). The results indicated that popularity was consistently positively associated with popularity goal, but popularity goal did not significantly predict subsequent popularity. Popularity positively predicted elevated aggression and alcohol use, but lower levels of prosocial behavior. For the full sample, alcohol use and overt aggression in grade 7 both predicted subsequent popularity in grade 8. However, when considering gender differences, overt aggression no longer was a significant predictor of popularity. These results were discussed in terms of the dynamic interplay between popularity, popularity goal, and behaviors, and in terms of implications for prevention and intervention efforts.

Classroom Status Hierarchy Moderates the Association between Social Dominance Goals and Bullying Behavior in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Social dominance goals represent desires to be powerful and prominent among peers. Previous studies have documented that endorsing social dominance goals is positively associated with bullying behavior. However, little is known about how classroom context moderates the social dominance goals-bullying association. The present study examined the role of classroom status hierarchy in the longitudinal association between social dominance goals and bullying in a sample of 1,603 children attending 17 grade 3 classrooms (n = 558, 46.2% girls, M_age = 9.33 years, SD = 0.44), 15 grade 4 classrooms (n = 491, 45.0% girls, M_age = 10.31 years, SD = 0.38) and 16 grade 7 classrooms (n = 554, 49.3% girls, M_age = 13.2 years, SD = 0.46) in China, followed for 1 year. Classroom peer status hierarchy was assessed by the within-classroom standard deviation in perceived popularity. Social dominance goals were obtained through self-reports. Bullying was measured via peer nomination. The multilevel models revealed that social dominance goals at Wave 1 predicted increases in bullying at Wave 2 only in classrooms with higher status hierarchies, after controlling for gender, grade, classroom size, and classroom gender distribution. These findings indicate that children who strive for social dominance goals are more likely to bully others when power is less equally distributed in the classroom.

Receiving Prosocial Behavior: Examining the Reciprocal Associations between Positive Peer Treatment and Psychosocial and Behavioral Outcomes

This study investigates the prospective and reciprocal associations between positive peer treatment and psychosocial (popularity, preference, psychological distress) and behavioral (prosocial behavior) outcomes during early adolescence. Participants were 270 young adolescents (52% boys; M_age  = 11.84 years) who completed peer nomination and self-report measures as part of a 7-month longitudinal study (Wave 1; Feb. Grade 6; Wave 2: May, Grade 6; Wave 3: Sept., Grade 7). Cross-lagged autoregressive path models revealed reciprocal associations between positive peer treatment and prosocial behavior, such that Wave 1 positive peer treatment predicted increases in Wave 2 prosocial behavior and vice versa. Findings are novel, highlight the importance of considering positive peer treatment during adolescence, and set the stage for future work in this area.

Prospective Associations between Popularity, Victimization, and Aggression in Early Adolescence

Recent research has highlighted an understudied phenomenon in the peer victimization literature thus far: the overlap between high status (i.e., popularity) and victimization. However, the research on this phenomenon has primarily been cross-sectional. The current investigation uses a longitudinal design to address two questions related to high-status victims. First, the present study examined prospective associations between popularity and two forms of indirect victimization (reputational victimization and exclusion). Second, this study examined elevated aggression as a consequence of high-status youth’s victimization (using self- and peer- reports of victimization). Participants were 370 adolescents (M_age = 14.44, range = 14.00–16.00; 56.5% girls) who were followed for 1 year. Both high and low levels of popularity were prospectively associated with reputational victimization. Moreover, popularity moderated the association between self-reported indirect victimization (but not peer-reported indirect victimization) and aggression. The results help build toward a more comprehensive understanding of both victimization and aggression in adolescence. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for a cycle of aggression in youth and the lowered effectiveness of bullying interventions in adolescence.

Adolescents with an entity theory of personality are more vigilant to social status and use relational aggression to maintain social status

The present research proposed that one social-cognitive root of adolescents' willingness to use relational aggression to maintain social status in high school is an entity theory of personality, which is the belief that people's social status-relevant traits are fixed and cannot change. Aggregated data from three studies (N=882) showed that first-year high school adolescents in the U.S. who endorsed more of an entity theory were more likely to show cognitive and motivational vigilance to social status, in terms of judgments on a novel social categorization task and reports of goals related to demonstrating social status to peers. Those with an entity theory then showed a greater willingness to use relational aggression, as measured by retrospective self-reports, responses to a hypothetical scenario, and a behavioral choice task. Discussion centers on theoretical and translational implications of the proposed model and of the novel measures.

Cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization in relation to adolescents' dating and sexual behavior: An evolutionary perspective

This study examined adolescents' cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending previous research showing that traditional forms of bullying, aggression, and victimization are associated with reproductively relevant outcomes. Consistent with hypotheses based on theory and research linking bullying and aggression to intrasexual competition for mates, results indicated that cyber victimization was positively associated with a number of dating and sexual partners. Findings for cyber aggression were more complex, depending on the degree of cyber victimization experienced by the perpetrator, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Specifically, nonbullying cyber aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim had stronger positive relations with the number of dating or sexual partners when perpetrators experienced a high level of cyber victimhood. In contrast, cyberbullying by perpetrators with more power than the victim was negatively associated with the number of dating partners when the perpetrators' exposure to cyber victimization was low. Although cyber aggression and cyber victimization are new forms of aggression that involve the use of modern electronic devices, the results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of viewing this behavior from an evolutionary perspective and show that adolescents are likely to use cyber aggression against rivals in the context of intrasexual competition for mates.

An empirical examination of UTAUT model and social network analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to ensure the sustainability of the competitive advantages of internet financial enterprises. In recent years, driven by the two wheels of financial market and information technology, the internet finance has experienced an extremely rapid development.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the performance expectation, effort expectation, social influence and purchase intention of UTAUT model, an empirical examination was conducted. Specifically, the authors made the user purchasing behavior as the dependent variable and added some new factors such as perceived risk, individual innovation and product cognition as the independent variables in the model, and they also added user gender and experience as regulated variables, so as to study the impact factors that affect the purchasing behavior. In addition, the authors also studied the impact of social network friend recommendations on consumers’ willingness to purchase.

Findings

The research results showed that effort expectation, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, purchase intention, awareness and individual innovation have a positive effect on the behavior of buying financial products, whereas the perceived risk has a negative effect on the behavior of buying internet financial products. Additionally, in the context of social networking, social network friend recommendations have a positive impact on consumers’ willingness to purchase.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is based on the integrated technology acceptance model, which makes the user purchasing behavior as the dependent variable and adds some new factors such as perceived risk, individual innovation and product cognition as the independent variables. However, the research on recommendation between social network friends is not deep enough, so further improvement is needed.

Practical implications

This study can enrich the existing theories on the interpretation of the intention of using internet financial products, help internet financial enterprises understand user behavior and demands better, and improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study provides an empirical examination of UTAUT model and social network analysis.

Links between adolescent bullying and neural activation to viewing social exclusion

Neuroscientists who have studied bullying have primarily focused on the psychopathology of diagnosable offenders or the resulting symptomatology of victimization. Less attention has been given to theories that suggest that bullying may be an interpersonal strategy. In an exploratory study, we recruited a sample of adolescents (N = 24) who engaged in high rates of delinquent behavior and collected self-report ratings of bullying behaviors. During an fMRI scan, adolescents observed instances of social exclusion and social inclusion. The adolescents' self-reported bullying was associated with greater ventral striatum, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and insula activation when viewing social exclusion > social inclusion. Activation in these regions is commonly associated with reward-learning, salience monitoring, and motivational processes, suggesting that bullies show altered processing of interpersonal cues and social dynamic experiences in their environment. Our findings highlight the need for developmental neuroscientists to further explore the role of social motivation in processing socio-affective information, with a particular focus on goal-directed antisocial behavior.

Direct Aggression and the Balance between Status and Affection Goals in Adolescence

Previous studies have shown that status goals motivate direct forms of interpersonal aggression. However, status goals have been studied mostly in isolation from affection goals. It is theorized that the means by which status and affection goals are satisfied change during adolescence, which can affect aggression. This is tested in a pooled sample of (pre)adolescents (N = 1536; 49% girls; ages 10–15), by examining associations between status goals and direct aggression and the moderating role of affection goals. As hypothesized, with increasing age, status goals were more strongly associated with direct aggression. Moreover, for older adolescents, status goals were only associated with aggression when affection goals were weak. These findings support the changing relationship between status goals and direct aggression during adolescence.

Social Influence in Adolescent Decision-Making: A Formal Framework

Adolescence is a period of life during which peers play a pivotal role in decision-making. The narrative of social influence during adolescence often revolves around risky and maladaptive decisions, like driving under the influence, and using illegal substances (Steinberg, 2005). However, research has also shown that social influence can lead to increased prosocial behaviors (Van Hoorn et al., 2017) and a reduction in risk-taking (Braams et al., 2019). While many studies support the notion that adolescents are more sensitive to peer influence than children or adults, the developmental processes that underlie this sensitivity remain poorly understood. We argue that one important reason for this lack of understanding is the absence of precisely formulated models. To make a first step toward formal models of social influence during adolescence, we first identify three prominent verbal models of social influence in the literature: (1) social motivation, (2) reward sensitivity, and (3) distraction. We then illustrate how these can be translated into formal models, and how such formal models can inform experimental design and help identify developmental processes. Finally, by applying our formal models to existing datasets, we demonstrate the usefulness of formalization by synthesizing different studies with seemingly disparate results. We conclude with a discussion on how formal modeling can be utilized to better investigate the development of peer influence in adolescence.

The Role of Prosocial and Aggressive Popularity Norm Combinations in Prosocial and Aggressive Friendship Processes

Prior work has shown that popular peers can set a powerful norm for the valence and salience of aggression in adolescent classrooms, which enhances aggressive friendship processes (selection, maintenance, influence). It is unknown, however, whether popular peers also set a norm for prosocial behavior that can buffer against aggressive friendship processes and stimulate prosocial friendship processes. This study examined the role of prosocial and aggressive popularity norm combinations in prosocial and aggressive friendship processes. Three waves of peer-nominated data were collected in the first- and second year of secondary school (N = 1816 students; 81 classrooms; M_age = 13.06; 50.5% girl). Longitudinal social network analyses indicate that prosocial popularity norms have most power to affect both prosocial and aggressive friendship processes when aggressive popularity norms are non-present. In prosocial classrooms (low aggressive and high prosocial popularity norms), friendship maintenance based on prosocial behavior is enhanced, whereas aggressive friendship processes are largely mitigated. Instead, when aggressive popularity norms are equally strong as prosocial norms (mixed classrooms) or even stronger than prosocial norms (aggressive classrooms), aggression is more important for friendship processes than prosocial behavior. These findings show that the prosocial behavior of popular peers may only buffer against aggressive friendship processes and stimulate prosocial friendship processes if these popular peers (or other popular peers in the classroom) abstain from aggression.