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Relations Among Anxious Solitude, Peer Exclusion, and Maternal Overcontrol from 3rd Through 7th Grade: Peer Effects on Youth, Youth Evocative Effects on Mothering, and the Indirect Effect of Peers on Mothering via Youth

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Abstract

This study evaluated a transactional model of youth anxious solitude and peer and maternal relations from 3rd through 7th grade. Participants were 230 American youth (57% girls) selected for longitudinal study from a screening sample recruited from public schools (N = 688). Peers reported on anxious solitude and peer exclusion and youth reported on their mother’s overcontrol annually. In an autoregressive cross-lagged panel analytic model peer exclusion predicted incremental increases in anxious solitude during elementary school and after the middle school transition. Additionally, anxious solitude evoked incremental increases in maternal overcontrol during elementary school. Finally, anxious solitude in 4th grade mediated the positive indirect relation between peer exclusion in 3rd grade and maternal overcontrol in 5th grade. These results suggests that peer relations can indirectly effect mothering via increased youth anxious solitude over time. Taken together, evidence supports a Transactional Model of anxious solitude development. Additionally, consistent with previous evidence, elevated youth anxious solitude at the end of elementary school in 5th grade predicted decreased peer exclusion after the middle school transition in 6th grade when youth experience a fresh start with peer relations. Nonetheless, youth (especially girls) demonstrated greater year-to-year stability in anxious solitude across the first two years of middle school than in the last three years of elementary school.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the children, school staff, and families who participated in this research and to the members of the Social Development Lab who demonstrated such dedication to this research program. Thanks also to Dr. Thomas Ledermann for his generosity with statistical consultation.

Funding

This research was supported by grant 1K01MH076237 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Heidi Gazelle and by Florida State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, 216 Sandels Building, 120 Convocation Way, FL, 32306, Tallahassee, USA

    Heidi Gazelle & Ming Cui

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  1. Heidi Gazelle
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  2. Ming Cui
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Correspondence to Heidi Gazelle.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Ethical Approval

Measures and procedures were approved by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro IRB.

Informed Consent

Participants were 230 youth (57% girls) with active informed parental consent who attended seven public elementary schools in 3rd grade in a suburban to rural region of the Southeastern United States.

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Gazelle, H., Cui, M. Relations Among Anxious Solitude, Peer Exclusion, and Maternal Overcontrol from 3rd Through 7th Grade: Peer Effects on Youth, Youth Evocative Effects on Mothering, and the Indirect Effect of Peers on Mothering via Youth. J Abnorm Child Psychol 48, 1485–1498 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00685-w

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