This study examined whether parents’ social information processing was related to their subsequent reports of their harsh discipline. Interviews were conducted with mothers (n = 1,277) and fathers (n = 1,030) of children in 1,297 families in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States), initially when children were 7 to 9 years old and again 1 year later. Structural equation models showed that parents’ positive evaluations of aggressive responses to hypothetical childrearing vignettes at Time 1 predicted parents’ self-reported harsh physical and nonphysical discipline at Time 2. This link was consistent across mothers and fathers, and across the nine countries, providing support for the universality of the link between positive evaluations of harsh discipline and parents’ aggressive behavior toward children. The results suggest that international efforts to eliminate violence toward children could target parents’ beliefs about the acceptability and advisability of using harsh physical and nonphysical forms of discipline.

A short-term longitudinal study during early childhood (N = 301; 155 girls; M = 44.76 months old, SD = 8.20) investigated the prospective associations between peer victimization and aggression subtypes. Specifically, observations of relational and physical victimization as well as teacher reports of the forms (i.e., relational and physical) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression were collected at two time points during an academic year. Within- and between-group gender differences were examined as part of the preliminary analyses. In order to address key study questions, both directions of effect between peer victimization and aggression subtypes were examined. We found that teacher-reported proactive relational aggression predicted decreases in observed relational victimization over time, whereas reactive relational aggression predicted increases in observed relational victimization over time. Ways in which these and other findings extend the literature are discussed.

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the association between physiological reactivity to peer stressors and physical and relational aggression. Potential moderation by actual experiences of peer maltreatment (i.e., physical and relational victimization) and gender were also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol during which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships) and an instrumental stressor (e.g., threats to physical well-being, dominance, or property) were assessed. Teachers provided reports of aggression and victimization. In both boys and girls, physical aggression was associated with blunted physiological reactivity to relational stress and heightened physiological reactivity to instrumental stress, particularly among youth higher in victimization. In girls, relational aggression was most robustly associated with blunted physiological reactivity to relational stressors, particularly among girls exhibiting higher levels of relational victimization. In boys, relational aggression was associated with heightened physiological reactivity to both types of stressors at higher levels of peer victimization and blunted physiological reactivity to both types of stressors at lower levels of victimization. Results underscore the shared and distinct emotional processes underlying physical and relational aggression in boys and girls.

Adolescents' peer experiences may have significant associations with biological stress-response systems, adding to or reducing allostatic load. This study examined relational victimization as a unique contributor to reactive hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis responses as well as friendship quality and behavior as factors that may promote HPA recovery following a stressor. A total of 62 adolescents (ages 12–16; 73% female) presenting with a wide range of life stressors and adjustment difficulties completed survey measures of peer victimization and friendship quality. Cortisol samples were collected before and after a lab-based interpersonally themed social stressor task to provide measures of HPA baseline, reactivity, and recovery. Following the stressor task, adolescents discussed their performance with a close friend; observational coding yielded measures of friends' responsiveness. Adolescents also reported positive and negative friendship qualities. Results suggested that higher levels of adolescents' relational victimization were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity, even after controlling for physical forms of victimization and other known predictors of HPA functioning (i.e., life stress or depressive symptoms). Friendship qualities (i.e., low negative qualities) and specific friendship behaviors (i.e., high levels of responsiveness) contributed to greater HPA regulation; however, consistent with theories of rumination, high friend responsiveness in the context of high levels of positive friendship quality contributed to less cortisol recovery. Findings extend prior work on the importance of relational victimization and dyadic peer relations as unique and salient correlates of adaptation in adolescence.

This short-term longitudinal study examined the associations between relational and physical victimization and depressive symptoms, and the moderating role of school-aged children's relational-interdependent self-construals in these associations. The participants were 387 children (51.8% boys) who were in the fifth grade (M = 10.48 years, SD = 0.55) in Taiwan and followed at two time points (a 6-month interval) during a calendar year. A multiple-informant approach was used where forms of peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and relational-interdependent self-construals were assessed via peer nominations, teacher reports, and child reports, respectively. All measures had favorable psychometric properties. The results of a multigroup cross-lagged model demonstrated that relational victimization (not physical victimization) was positively predictive of subsequent depressive symptoms, and the effect was evidenced for highly interdependent children only. The opposite link was also significant, such that depressive symptoms predicted subsequent relational victimization (not physical victimization) for children who exhibited low and high levels of relational-interdependent self-construals. In contrast, physical victimization predated a lower level of depressive symptoms for highly interdependent children. These effects were unaffected by the gender of the child. The findings, especially the interactive effects of relational victimization (as a contextual factor) and relational-interdependent self-construals (as an individual vulnerability) on depressive symptoms, are discussed from a developmental psychopathology perspective.

This study had two goals. The first goal was to examine the association between two indicators of negative bias in children and their associations with children's aggression. The second goal was to examine a possible dual role of social status, operationalized as popularity, as a concurrent correlate of negative bias and as a moderator of the effect of negative bias on children's aggression. The roles of gender and type of aggression were also examined. Participants were 366 fifth- and sixth-grade children (49% girls; Mage = 11.07 years, SD = 0.85 year) who completed peer- and self-report measures in their classrooms. The results showed that the two indicators of negative bias were associated with each other and with children's aggression. Popularity was weakly associated with negative bias. However, popularity did moderate the association of hostile attributions with aggression. The associations of both measures of negative bias with aggression also varied by gender, with stronger associations for boys than for girls. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The complex interplay between bullying/victimization and defending was examined using a longitudinal social network approach (stochastic actor-based models). The (co)evolution of these relations within three elementary schools (Grades 2–5 at Time 1, ages 8–11, N = 354 children) was investigated across three time points within a year. Most bullies and defenders were in the same grade as the victims, although a substantial number of bullies and defenders were in other grades (most often one grade higher). Defenders were usually of the same gender as the victims, whereas most bullies were boys, with boys bullying both boys and girls. In line with goal-framing theory, multiplex network analyses provided evidence for the social support hypothesis (victims with the same bullies defended each other over time) as well as the retaliation hypothesis (defenders run the risk of becoming victimized by the bullies of the victims they defend). In addition, the analysis revealed that bullies with the same victims defended each other over time and that defenders of bullies initiated harassment of those bullies' victims. This study can be seen as a starting point in unraveling the relationship dynamics among bullying, victimization, and defending networks in schools.

Founded in the social process model, the aim of this study was to identify whether the associations of relational aggression with concurrent and subsequent relational victimization differed depending on early adolescents' personal vulnerabilities and gender. The vulnerabilities of interest were social-information processing variables that convey greater emotional sensitivity, including rejection sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, and avoidance of intimacy. Participants were 358 early adolescents (176 boys, 178 girls) aged 9 to 13 years. Relational aggression and victimization were assessed via peer nominations, whereas the three indicators of emotional sensitivity were assessed via self-report. Overall, results revealed greater relational aggression at Time 1 to be associated with greater relational victimization at both Time 1 and Time 2. However, this finding was qualified by both emotional sensitivity and gender. When considered separately, girls who were relationally aggressive and emotionally sensitive were at increased risk of victimization at both assessment points. In contrast, no link was found between relational aggression and victimization for boys, although relational vulnerabilities did have unique associations with boys' relational victimization. These findings have implications for our understanding of relational aggression and victimization, as well as for the development of interventions aimed at reducing these problems.

Consistent research shows that peer victimization predicts internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence, but the extent to which peer victimization and its harmful effects on mental health persists into young adulthood is unclear. The current study describes patterns of physical and relational victimization during and after high school, and examines concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing symptoms (depressive and anxious symptoms) and peer victimization (physical and relational) from adolescence to young adulthood (ages 12–27). Data were collected from the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey, a five-wave multicohort study conducted biennially between 2003 and 2011 (N = 662). Physical victimization was consistently low and stable over time. Relational victimization increased for males after high school. Both types of victimization were associated concurrently with internalizing symptoms across young adulthood for males and for females. Although sex differences were important, victimization in high school also predicted increases in internalizing problems over time.

The bully/victim relationship was studied in a sample of elementary school children (N = 1,289 in first, third, and fifth grades). Three questions were tested. Does bullying involve a power differential between bully and victim? Are bully/victim dyads participants in a relationship, whether mutual liking or disliking? Does the gender composition of the bully/victim dyad moderate power differential and relational context patterns? Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze predictors of the reputational strength of bully/victim ties. The findings revealed that the bully/victim dyads most frequently nominated by peers were characterized by asymmetries in social status, where bullies were increasingly more popular than their victims, and by asymmetries in aggression, where bullies were increasingly less aggressive than their victims. Bullies and victims were likely to select one another as among the children that they least like. Most effects with respect to aggression, popularity, and relationships were moderated by the gender composition of the bully/victim dyad. Implications for a developmental psychopathology perspective on peer bullying and victimization are highlighted.

In the current study, we addressed several issues related to the forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression in community (n = 307), voluntary residential (n = 1,917), and involuntarily detained (n = 659) adolescents (ages 11–19 years). Across samples, boys self-reported more physical aggression and girls reported more relational aggression, with the exception of higher levels of both forms of aggression in detained girls. Further, few boys showed high rates of relational aggression without also showing high rates of physical aggression. In contrast, it was not uncommon for girls to show high rates of relational aggression alone, and these girls tended to also have high levels of problem behavior (e.g., delinquency) and mental health problems (e.g., emotional dysregulation and callous–unemotional traits). Finally, for physical aggression in both boys and girls, and for relational aggression in girls, there was a clear pattern of aggressive behavior that emerged from cluster analyses across samples. Two aggression clusters emerged, with one group showing moderately high reactive aggression and a second group showing both high reactive and high proactive aggression (combined group). On measures of severity (e.g., self-reported delinquency and arrests) and etiologically important variables (e.g., emotional regulation and callous–unemotional traits), the reactive aggression group was more severe than a nonaggressive cluster but less severe than the combined aggressive cluster.

Nicki Crick initiated a generative line of theory and research aimed at exploring the implications of exposure to overt and relational aggression for youth development. The present study aimed to continue and expand this research by examining whether early (second grade) and increasing (second–sixth grade) levels of victimization during elementary school contributed to youths’ tendencies to move against, away from, or toward the world of peers following the transition to middle school. Youth (M age in second grade = 7.96 years, SD = 0.35; 338 girls, 298 boys) reported on their exposure to victimization and their social goals (performance-approach, performance-avoidance, or mastery). Teachers reported on youths’ exposure to victimization and their engagement in antisocial, socially helpless, and prosocial behavior. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that early and increasing levels of both overt and relational victimization uniquely contributed to multifinality in adverse developmental outcomes, predicting all three social orientations (high conflictual engagement, high disengagement, and low positive engagement). The pattern of effects was robust across sex and after adjusting for youths’ early social motivation. These findings confirm that both forms of victimization leave an enduring legacy on youths’ social health in adolescence. Given that profiles of moving against and away from the world can contribute to subsequent psychopathology, understanding and preventing this legacy is pivotal for developing effective intervention programs aimed at minimizing the effects of peer adversity.

Although there is considerable evidence that relational victimization is associated with depressive symptoms in youth, our understanding about the mechanisms by which victimization and depressive symptoms are linked is limited. The current study explored ruminating about victimization experiences as a potential mechanism that might contribute to an understanding of the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. We also tested the specificity of the proposed models by controlling for and testing parallel models of a highly related behavior: relational aggression. A sample of 499 adolescents from sixth through eighth grades participated. Teacher reports were used to assess relational victimization and relational aggression. Self-reports were used to assess depressive symptoms and rumination. The results showed that rumination partially mediated the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. No moderation effect was found. In contrast, rumination moderated the association between relational aggression and depressive symptoms. Specifically, relational aggression was associated with depressive symptoms for those adolescents who were also ruminators. Thus, ruminating about victimization experiences appears to be an important mechanism that functions differently for relational aggression and relational victimization in conferring risk for depressive symptoms. The findings offer important practical implications for those working with adolescents and also lay the groundwork for future research.

The association between mothers' psychological control and their children's emotional adjustment problems is well documented. However, processes that may explain this association are not well understood. The present study tested the idea that relational aggression and psychological control within the context of the sibling relationship may help to account for the relation between mothers' psychological control and adolescents' internalizing symptoms. Older (M = 16.46, SD = 1.35 years) and younger (M = 13.67, SD = 1.56 years) siblings from 101 dyads rated the psychological control they received from mothers and siblings, and the relational aggression they received from siblings. Despite some similarities between psychological control and relational aggression, confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence that the two sibling processes are distinct. Maternal psychological control was related to psychological control and relational aggression within the sibling relationship, which were related to adolescents' anxiety and depressed mood. In addition, sibling relational aggression was a more powerful mediator of the relationship between maternal psychological control and adolescent adjustment than sibling psychological control.

Urban ethnic minority youth are often exposed to high levels of aggression and violence. As such, many aggression intervention programs that have been designed with suburban nonethnic minority youth have been used or slightly adapted in order to try and meet the needs of high-risk urban youth. The current study contributes to the literature base by examining how well a range of social–cognitive, emotional distress and victimization, and prosocial factors are related to youth aggression in a sample of urban youth. This study utilized data gathered from 109 9- to 15-year-old youth (36.7% male; 84.4% African American) and their parents or caregivers. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions were fit predicting youth aggression from social–cognitive variables, victimization and distress, and prosocial variables, controlling for youth gender and age. Each set of variables explained a significant and unique amount of the variance in youth aggressive behavior. The full model including all predictors accounted for 41% of the variance in aggression. Models suggest that youth with stronger beliefs supportive of violence, youth who experience more overt victimization, and youth who experience greater distress in overtly aggressive situations are likely to be more aggressive. In contrast, youth with higher self-esteem and youth who endorse greater leadership efficacy are likely to be less aggressive. Contrary to hypotheses, hostile attributional bias and knowledge of social information processing, experience of relational victimization, distress in relationally aggressive situations, and community engagement were not associated with aggression. Our study is one of the first to address these important questions for low-income, predominately ethnic minority urban youth, and it has clear implications for adapting aggression prevention programs to be culturally sensitive for urban African American youth.

Crick, Murray-Close, and Woods (2005) encouraged the study of relational aggression as a developmental precursor to borderline personality features in children and adolescents. A longitudinal study is needed to more fully explore this association, to contrast potential associations with physical aggression, and to assess generalizability across various cultural contexts. In addition, parenting is of particular interest in the prediction of aggression or borderline personality disorder. Early aggression and parenting experiences may differ in their long-term prediction of aggression or borderline features, which may have important implications for early intervention. The currrent study incorporated a longitudinal sample of preschool children (84 boys, 84 girls) living in intact, two-parent biological households in Voronezh, Russia. Teachers provided ratings of children's relational and physical aggression in preschool. Mothers and fathers also self-reported their engagement in authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and psychological controlling forms of parenting with their preschooler. A decade later, 70.8% of the original child participants consented to a follow-up study in which they completed self-reports of relational and physical aggression and borderline personality features. The multivariate results of this study showed that preschool relational aggression in girls predicted adolescent relational aggression. Preschool aversive parenting (i.e., authoritarian, permissive, and psychologically controlling forms) significantly predicted aggression and borderline features in adolescent females. For adolescent males, preschool authoritative parenting served as a protective factor against aggression and borderline features, whereas authoritarian parenting was a risk factor for later aggression.

The present longitudinal investigation examined borderline personality features as a predictor of aggression 1 year later. Moderation by physiological reactivity and gender was also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol in which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships or exclusion) were assessed. Teachers provided reports on subtypes of aggressive behavior (i.e., reactive relational, proactive relational, reactive physical, and proactive physical), and children completed a self-report measure of borderline personality features. Path analyses indicated that borderline personality features predicted increases in reactive relational aggression and proactive relational aggression among girls who evinced heightened physiological reactivity to interpersonal stress. In contrast, borderline personality features predicted decreases in proactive physical aggression in girls. Findings suggest that borderline personality features promote engagement in relationally aggressive behaviors among girls, particularly in the context of emotional dysregulation.

Child maltreatment has been established as a risk factor for borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet few studies consider how maltreatment influences the development of BPD features through childhood and adolescence. Subtype, developmental timing, and chronicity of child maltreatment were examined as factors in the development of borderline personality features in childhood. Children (M age = 11.30, SD = 0.94), including 314 maltreated and 285 nonmaltreated children from comparable low socioeconomic backgrounds, provided self-reports of developmentally salient borderline personality traits. Maltreated children had higher overall borderline feature scores, had higher scores on each individual subscale, and were more likely to be identified as at high risk for development of BPD through raised scores on all four subscales. Chronicity of maltreatment predicted higher overall borderline feature scores, and patterns of onset and recency of maltreatment significantly predicted whether a participant would meet criteria for the high-risk group. Implications of findings and recommendations for intervention are discussed.

Developmental cascade models linking childhood physical and relational aggression with symptoms of depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; assessed at ages 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14) to borderline personality disorder (BPD) features (assessed at age 14) were examined in a community sample of 484 youth. Results indicated that, when controlling for within-time covariance and across-time stability in the examination of cross-lagged relations among study variables, BPD features at age 14 were predicted by childhood relational aggression and symptoms of depression for boys, and physical and relational aggression, symptoms of depression, and symptoms of ADHD for girls. Moreover, for boys BPD features were predicted from age 10 ADHD through age 12 depression, whereas for girls the pathway to elevated BPD features at age 14 was from depression at age 10 through physical aggression symptoms at age 12. Controlling for earlier associations among variables, we found that for girls the strongest predictor of BPD features at age 14 was physical aggression, whereas for boys all the risk indicators shared a similar predictive impact. This study adds to the growing literature showing that physical and relational aggression ought to be considered when examining early precursors of BPD features.