Abstract
The failure model posits that peer rejection and poor academic performance are dual pathways in the association between early aggressive behavior and subsequent depressive symptoms. We examined this model using an accelerated longitudinal design while also incorporating proactive and reactive aggression and gender moderation. Children in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades (n = 912; ages 6–12; 48% female) were rated three times annually by their primary teachers on measures of proactive and reactive aggression, peer rejection, academic performance, and depressive symptoms. Using Bayesian cross-classified estimation to account for nested and planned-missing data, path models were estimated to examine whether early reactive aggression predicted subsequent peer rejection and academic performance, and whether these, in turn, predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. From 1st to 3rd grade, reactive aggression predicted peer rejection (not academic performance), proactive aggression predicted academic performance (not peer rejection), and academic performance and peer rejection both predicted depressive symptoms. From 3rd to 5th grade, however, neither peer rejection nor academic performance predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. Results were not moderated by gender. Overall, these findings provide mixed and limited support for the failure model among school-age children. Early reactive aggression may be a key risk factor for social problems, whereas proactive aggression may be linked to improved academic functioning. The “dual pathways” of peer rejection and academic performance may operate during early but not later elementary school. Limitations and implications are discussed.
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Notes
These teachers routinely evaluate and report on their students in study domains (i.e., academic performance, social-emotional functioning, behavior problems) as part of their professional duties and school procedures. Further, the data were de-identified to the researchers and only presented back to school staff in aggregate descriptive statistics. For these reasons the institutional review board and the school administration determined that teacher participation was unlikely to affect individual students. Thus, parent consent and youth assent were not required; teacher consent was sufficient.
True mediation is established when variable X at Time T is associated with variable Y at Time T + 2, and both are associated with variable M at time T + 1 (Kline 2016; Little 2013). Given the accelerated design, the direct paths from first to fifth grade were not estimable because no participants were observed at both time points. Thus, only the indirect paths were estimated, and direct effects could not be examined.
Because software limitations allowed no more than two cross-classified occasions, these models were specified in several ways: piecewise models containing two adjacent occasions at a time (1st to 3rd; 3rd to 5th); and whole models containing all three occasions with the cross-classified adjustments applied to one interval or the other. Because single models are more parsimonious than piecewise models, and because the 3rd and 5th grade variables were most of interest as outcomes, we treated this particular model—i.e., 1st to [3rd to 5th] (brackets denote cross-classified adjustments)—as the primary model for interpretation. The other versions were estimated as secondary evidence to assess the robustness of results. In some model variants (but not the primary/final model), model convergence required fixing means to zero due to variance restriction imposed by cross-classification adjustments.
As mentioned in the previous footnote, three alternative variants tested to overcome software limitations: 1st to 3rd piecewise model (n = 647); 3rd to 5th piecewise model (n = 646); and whole model with cross-classification adjustment applied to1st to 3rd (n = 912). Prior to these analyses, all path estimates from the initial model (Fig. 1, Table 3) were first classified into three mutually exclusive groups based on their significance: (a) significant effect (95% CIs ≠ 0); (b) significant direction (one-tailed ps < .05 but 95% CIs = 0); and (c) nonsignificant (one-tailed ps ≥ .05). From the original model to all three alternative models, there were no meaningful changes in these significance classifications for any parameter estimates. A few negligible changes were observed in covariate paths for gender across models (e.g., from nonsignificant to significant), but these were explained by the omission of other regression path terms (as necessitated by piecewise model building), upon which the covariate effect is conditional.
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Acknowledgments
For their helpful feedback and consultation on this study, we thank Michael Roberts, Christopher Cushing, Anne Williford, Eric Vernberg, and Jennifer Blossom. We are also grateful to the school administrators and teachers for their research partnership and participation. This work was completed as part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation, with support from the American Psychological Foundation (Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Fellowship, SCE) and the University of Kansas (Lillian Jacobey Baur Early Childhood Fellowship and Doctoral Student Research Fund, SCE; Faculty Research Fund, PJF).
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Evans, S.C., Fite, P.J. Dual Pathways from Reactive Aggression to Depressive Symptoms in Children: Further Examination of the Failure Model. J Abnorm Child Psychol 47, 85–97 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0426-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0426-6