The nature of peer groups and friendships of socially aggressive early adolescents

Concerns related to the utilization of socially aggressive behaviors have been documented. However, there is a paucity of information regarding the impact of social context (i.e., peer groups and friendships) on socially aggressive behaviors, especially in early adolescence. Considering the potential role of peer groups and friendships in influencing the socially aggressive behaviors of early adolescents, this paucity is a critical gap in the literature. The current study examined the peer groups and friendships of socially and overtly aggressive youth by recruiting 518 early adolescents, ages 10-15, at two middle schools in grades sixth though eighth. Data collection methods included Social Cognitive Map to determine peer group participation and social network centrality position, self-reports of aggressive behaviors, friendship nominations, and peer group and dyadic friendship quality.;The project yielded interesting results. First, no gender differences were found in levels of social aggression, whereas, boys reported higher levels of overt aggression than girls. Second, few to no differences were found in social and overt aggression levels between members and non-members of peer groups and friendships, suggesting social and overt aggression does not preclude participation in peer groups and friendships. Third, social aggression was not related to social network centrality, indicating that social aggressive behavior does not preclude obtaining various types of social network centrality positions. Finally, individuals reporting utilization of social aggression at the individual level also tended to report the use social and overt aggression with their peer groups and best friends against other peers. Social aggression also was related to higher levels of validation and caring from the peer group and conflict within best friendships, whereas overt aggression was related to conflict and lower levels of validation and caring. This dissertation provided further evidence of the impact of peer groups and friendships on the social and overt aggressive behavior of early adolescents.