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

Publisher DOI
Abstract
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.
Date Issued
2013
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Subjects
Resource control
•
physical and social aggression
•
prosocial behavior
•
social preference
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Brendgen, Mara
Vitaro, Frank
Guimond, Fanny-Alexandra
Forget-Dubois, Nadine
Cantin, Stéphane
Boivin, Michel
Additional Credits
Journal
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research
Publisher
Emerald Group Publishing
ISSN
1759-6599
Access(Rights)
metadata.only
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