The additive and interactive roles of aggression, prosocial behavior, and social preference in predicting resource control in young children

Wettstein, Alexander; Brendgen, Mara; Vitaro, Frank; Guimond, Fanny-Alexandra; Forget-Dubois, Nadine; Cantin, Stéphane; Boivin, Michel (2013). The additive and interactive roles of aggression, prosocial behavior, and social preference in predicting resource control in young children. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 5(3), pp. 179-196. Emerald Group Publishing 10.1108/JACPR-11-2012-0011

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Distinguishing between physical and social aggression, this study examined whether the predictive effect of aggression on resource control a) is moderated by prosocial behavior and b) corresponds to a linear or a curvilinear trend. Moderating effects of children’s social preference among peers and child sex in this context were also tested. Based on a sample of 682 kindergarten children (348 girls; average age 72.7 months, 3.6 SD), multilevel regressions revealed additive linear effects of social preference and prosociality on resource control. Moderate (but not high) levels of social aggression also facilitated resource control for disliked children. There was no such threshold effect for well liked children, who increasingly controlled the resource the more socially aggressive they were. In contrast, physical aggression hampered resource control unless used very modestly. The present study has a number of positive features. First, the distinction between physical and social aggression improves our understanding of the relation between aggression and social competence and sketches a more differentiated picture of the role of different forms of aggression in resource control. Second, this study combines the concept of resource control with the concept of social preference and investigates curvilinear effects of aggression. Third, the direct observation of resource control in the Movie Viewer increases the internal validity of this study.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Education > Educational Psychology
UniBE Contributor:	Wettstein, Alexander
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 370 Education
ISSN:	1759-6599
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing
Language:	English
Submitter:	Alexander Wettstein
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2014 16:36
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:31
Publisher DOI:	10.1108/JACPR-11-2012-0011
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Resource control, physical and social aggression, prosocial behavior, social preference
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/46428