Social Motives Underlying Antisocial Behavior Across Middle School Grades

• NCJ Number: 223103
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 6 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 747-756
• Author(s): Jaana Juvonen; Alice Y. Ho
• Date Published: July 2008
• Length: 10 pages
• Grant Number(s): BCS-9911525; 99100463
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether social motives (social mimicry, mutual attraction, and unreciprocated attraction) underlie susceptibility to negative peer influence and predict changes in antisocial behavior across middle school grades.

Abstract

The findings suggest that during the first fall in middle school, the desire to imitate high-status aggressive peers and the unreciprocated desire to affiliate with particular peers who engage in aggressive behavior explain in part increased antisocial conduct. During the first fall of middle school, perceived association between aggressive behavior and high social status within the school predicted increased antisocial conduct during the fall and spring of the second year in that school. Findings also showed that the unreciprocated desire to affiliate with particular aggressive peers in the sixth grade predicted increased antisocial conduct during the last year and a half in middle school. This suggests that indicators of high social status are particularly powerful at the point when youth are adjusting to the new school scene. There was no support for the mutual-attraction hypothesis underlying negative peer associations. Given prior evidence of age and gender differences in the types of behavior that are most susceptible to peer influence, the authors advise not to presume that the processes tested in the current study are applicable across a wide range of behaviors or developmental phases. Study participants were drawn from a large longitudinal study of 2,307 middle school students. The current study used data collected from five of the six waves of the larger study. The sample sizes for the fall of sixth grade and the fall and spring of seventh and eighth grades were 2,003, 1,226, 1,347, 1,260, and 1,274 respectively. Teachers rated antisocial behaviors of participating students, and students nominated peers they admired, along with whether or not admired peers engaged in described bullying behaviors. 4 tables and 36 references