Abstract
This study investigated the predictive relations between externalizing behavior, peer preference and friendship quantity, and bully status and victim status among children becoming acquainted with one another for the first time. Children ages 6.8–9.8 years (24 with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; 113 typically developing; 72 girls) attended a 2-week summer day camp grouped into same-age, same-sex classrooms with previously unacquainted peers. Externalizing behavior (via parent and teacher ratings) was measured before the start of camp; peer preference and friendship quantity (via peer nominations) were measured in the middle of camp, and bully status and victim status (via peer nominations) were measured at the end of camp. Low peer preference mediated the positive association between externalizing behavior and bully status. Both peer preference and friendship quantity moderated the relation between externalizing behavior and bully status as well as between externalizing behavior and victim status; whereas high peer preference protected against both bully status and victim status, friendship quantity protected against victim status but exacerbated bully status. Some gender differences were found within these pathways. Peer preference, compared to friendship quantity, appears to have a more consistently protective role in the relation between externalizing behavior and bully status as well as victim status.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.
Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 213–232. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.213.
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. CA: Sage.
Bollmer, J. M., Milich, R., Harris, M. J., & Maras, M. A. (2005). A friend in need: the role of friendship quality as a protective factor in peer victimization and bullying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(6), 701–712. doi:10.1177/0886260504272897.
Boulton, M. J. (1999). Concurrent and longitudinal relations between children’s playground behavior and social preference, victimization, and bullying. Child Development, 70(4), 944–954. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00068.
Bruyn, E. H., de Cillessen, A. H. N., & Wissink, I. B. (2010). Associations of peer acceptance and perceived popularity with bullying and victimization in early adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 30(4), 543–566. doi:10.1177/0272431609340517.
Campbell, S. B. (1995). Behavior problems in preschool children: a review of recent research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 36(1), 113–149.
Cardoos, S. L., & Hinshaw, S. P. (2011). Friendship as protection from peer victimization for girls with and without ADHD. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(7), 1035–1045. doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9517-3.
Chang, L. (2004). The role of classroom norms in contextualizing the relations of children’s social behaviors to peer acceptance. Developmental Psychology, 40(5), 691–702.
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: a cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(4), 557–570.
Cook, C. R., Williams, K. R., Guerra, N. G., Kim, T. E., & Sadek, S. (2010). Predictors of bullying and victimization in childhood and adolescence: a meta-analytic investigation. School Psychology Quarterly, 25(2), 65–83. doi:10.1037/a0020149.
Dishion, T. J., & Kavanagh, K. (2003). Intervening in adolescent problem behavior: A family-centered approach (Vol. 11). New York: Guilford Press.
Dodge, K. A., Lansford, J. E., Burks, V. S., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Fontaine, R., & Price, J. M. (2003). Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Development, 74(2), 374–393.
Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Reiser, M., & Guthrie, I. K. (2001). The relations of regulation and emotionality to children’s externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Child Development, 72(4), 1112–1134.
Erhardt, D., & Hinshaw, S. P. (1994). Initial sociometric impressions of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and comparison boys: predictions from social behaviors and from nonbehavioral variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(4), 833–842.
Gadow, K. D., & Sprafkin, J. N. (1994). Child Symptom Inventories. Checkmate Plus.
Gillmore, M. R., Hawkins, J. D., Day, L. E., & Catalano, R. F. (1992). Friendship and deviance: new evidence on an old controversy. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 12(1), 80–95.
Grotpeter, J. K., & Crick, N. R. (1996). Relational aggression, overt aggression, and friendship. Child Development, 67(5), 2328–2338. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01860.x.
Hanish, L. D., & Guerra, N. G. (2000). Predictors of peer victimization among urban youth. Social Development, 9(4), 521–543. doi:10.1111/1467-9507.00141.
Hartup, W. W. (1996). The company they keep: friendships and their developmental significance. Child Development, 67(1), 1–13. doi:10.2307/1131681.
Haynie, D. L., Nansel, T., Eitel, P., Crump, A. D., Saylor, K., Yu, K., & Simons-Morton, B. (2001). Bullies, victims, and bully/victims: distinct groups of at-risk youth. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 21(1), 29–49. doi:10.1177/0272431601021001002.
Hodges, E. V., Malone, M. J., & Perry, D. G. (1997). Individual risk and social risk as interacting determinants of victimization in the peer group. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 1032–1039.
Holmberg, K., & Hjern, A. (2008). Bullying and attention-deficit– hyperactivity disorder in 10-year-olds in a Swedish community. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 50(2), 134–138. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8749.2007.02019.x.
Hoza, B., Gerdes, A. C., Mrug, S., Hinshaw, S. P., Bukowski, W. M., Gold, J. A., & Wigal, T. (2005). Peer-assessed outcomes in the multimodal treatment study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 34(1), 74–86. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3401_7.
Kaufman, J., Birmaher, B., Brent, D., Rao, U., Flynn, C., Moreci, P., & Ryan, N. (1997). Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children-present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): initial reliability and validity data. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(7), 980–988.
Kochenderfer-Ladd, B. (2004). Peer victimization: the role of emotions in adaptive and maladaptive coping. Social Development, 13(3), 329–349.
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B. J., & Coleman, C. C. (1997). Classroom peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization: distinct relation systems that contribute uniquely to children’s school adjustment? Child Development, 68(6), 1181–1197.
Liu, J. (2004). Childhood externalizing behavior: theory and implications. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 17(3), 93–103.
Mikami, A. Y., Boucher, M. A., & Humphreys, K. (2005). Prevention of peer rejection through a classroom-level intervention in middle school. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 26(1), 5–23. doi:10.1007/s10935-004-0988-7.
Mikami, A. Y., Griggs, M. S., Lerner, M. D., Emeh, C. C., Reuland, M. M., Jack, A., & Anthony, M. R. (2013). A randomized trial of a classroom intervention to increase peers’ social inclusion of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 81(1), 100–112. doi:10.1037/a0029654.
Mrug, S., Molina, B. S. G., Hoza, B., Gerdes, A. C., Hinshaw, S. P., Hechtman, L., & Arnold, L. E. (2012). Peer rejection and friendships in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: contributions to long-term outcomes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40(6), 1013–1026. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9610-2.
Murray-Close, D., Ostrov, J. M., & Crick, N. R. (2007). A short-term longitudinal study of growth of relational aggression during middle childhood: associations with gender, friendship intimacy, and internalizing problems. Development and Psychopathology, 19(01), 187–203. doi:10.1017/S0954579407070101.
Nangle, D. W., Erdley, C. A., & Gold, J. A. (1996). A reflection on the popularity construct: the importance of who likes or dislikes a child. Behavior Therapy, 27(3), 337–352. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(96)80021-9.
Newcomb, A. F., & Bagwell, C. L. (1995). Children’s friendship relations: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 117(2), 306–347. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.2.306.
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Olweus, D. (2013). School bullying: development and some important challenges. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9(1), 751–780.
Parkhurst, J. T., & Hopmeyer, A. (1998). Sociometric popularity and peer-perceived popularity: two distinct dimensions of peer status. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 18(2), 125–144. doi:10.1177/0272431698018002001.
Peets, K., Hodges, E. V. E., & Salmivalli, C. (2008). Affect-congruent social-cognitive evaluations and behaviors. Child Development, 79(1), 170–185.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.
Putallaz, M., & Wasserman, A. (1989). Children’s naturalistic entry behavior and sociometric status: a developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 25(2), 297–305.
Rose, A. J., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 98–131. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98.
Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: a review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(2), 112–120. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007.
Schwartz, D., McFadyen-Ketchum, S., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1999). Early behavior problems as a predictor of later peer group victimization: moderators and mediators in the pathways of social risk. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27(3), 191–201. doi:10.1023/A:1021948206165.
Sharp, S. (1996). Self-esteem, response style and victimization: possible ways of preventing victimization through parenting and school based training programmes. School Psychology International, 17(4), 347–357. doi:10.1177/0143034396174004.
Slaby, R. G., & Guerra, N. G. (1988). Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 580–588. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.580.
Veenstra, R., Lindenberg, S., Oldehinkel, A. J., De Winter, A. F., Verhulst, F. C., & Ormel, J. (2005). Bullying and victimization in elementary schools: a comparison of bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved preadolescents. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 672–682. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.672.
Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence. New York: Psychological Corporation/Harcourt Brace.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jia, M., Mikami, A.Y. Peer Preference and Friendship Quantity in Children with Externalizing Behavior: Distinct Influences on Bully Status and Victim Status. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43, 957–969 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9956-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9956-8