About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 22. Social Relationships

Abstract

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Social competence broadly refers to an effectiveness in communicating and ability to adapt to the demands of a social context. Social competence typically progresses steadily from early childhood to young adulthood (Bornstein et al., 2010); however, aggressive behaviors can disrupt this developmental trajectory (Junge et al., 2020). Moreover, the types of aggression used may differ by sex, with girls viewed as more likely to engage in relational aggression (indirect, social manipulation) and boys viewed as more likely to engage in direct aggression (verbal and physical approach behaviors; Bjorkqvist, 2018). These gender-based patterns in aggressive behavior reflect societal expectations and gender norms (Pauletti et al., 2014), which could in turn differentially shape perceptions of social competence among boys and girls.

Recognizing the deleterious impact of aggression on social competence and the relative stability of social competence once established, it is crucial to determine the specific developmental periods when aggression exerts greatest influence on social competence. The present study examined the relations between social competence and direct and relational aggression from ages 4 to 15 years in boys and girls. We address two main goals in this study: 1) to understand whether and when two forms of aggression impact social competence in boys and girls and 2) to identify the optimal time for intervention to mitigate the negative effect of aggression on social competence.

Data (N = 256, 46.1% male, 68.0% Caucasian) was abstracted from the RIGHT Track project, a longitudinal study examining behavioral, social, and emotional functioning across development. Parent responses on the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and Social Skill Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) assessed child aggression and social competence respectively. Separate Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models were run in Mplus Version 8.6 (Muthén & Muthén,) to examine bidirectional relationships between direct and relational aggression and social competence from ages 5-15 within sex groups.

Cross-lagged effects were found between social competence and relational aggression for boys, such that ages 4 and 10, relational aggression predicted lower social competence at ages 7 and 15 respectively. For girls, cross-lagged effects were significant at ages 10 and 15. Within the direct aggression model, cross-lagged effects were only significant at age 15 among boys. There were no significant cross-lagged effects between direct aggression and social competence among girls.

Relational aggression may be especially detrimental to both boys’ and girls’ social competence in emerging adolescence. Further, there was an increase in this relation for boys in the early school years. Behaviors related to relational aggression among boys entering pre-k and elementary school may be considered less socially acceptable than among girls the same age, thus they are perceived as less socially competent. Cross-lagged effects of direct aggression were significant at age 15 only for boys, not girls. Direct aggression may be considered more developmentally appropriate in childhood, with children expected to regulate these behaviors as they age. Results indicate that middle childhood may be an ideal time to intervene on aggressive behaviors.

Author information

Author	Role
Melissa Kravets, University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Presenting author
Susan Keane, Ph.D, University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Non-presenting author
Jessica Dollar, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Non-presenting author
Lilly Shanahan, Ph.D, University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Non-presenting author

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