Skip to main content
Log in

The Role of Peer Rejection in the Link between Reactive Aggression and Academic Performance

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Child & Youth Care Forum Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

There is substantial evidence to suggest that aggressive behavior is associated with poor academic performance in school-aged children. However, less is known about how different subtypes of aggression are related to academic performance and what variables may account for this association.

Objective

The current study examined unique associations between reactive (aggression in response to provocation) and proactive (goal-oriented calculated aggression) subtypes of aggression and academic performance. Further, the study evaluated whether peer rejection accounted for the link between these aggression subtypes and academic problems.

Methods

Study questions were examined using a sample of 147 school-age children (M = 8.22, SD = 1.99, 54.4 % male) who attended a community-based after school program. Path models were used to estimate the proposed associations using Mplus 6.12 statistical software.

Results

As expected, findings indicated that high levels of reactive, not proactive, aggression were uniquely associated with low levels of academic performance, and peer rejection accounted for this association.

Conclusions

Results advance the literature linking aggression and academic difficulties by indicating that reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, is associated with academic difficulties. Findings also support previous literature suggesting that peer relationships are an important target of prevention and intervention efforts aimed at improving school performance, particularly for individuals who exhibit reactively aggressive behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Due to the high correlation between proactive and reactive aggression, Tolerance and Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) values were computed in order to evaluate whether multicolinearity was of concern. Tolerance values <.1 and VIF values >10 suggest issues of multicolinearity (Cohen et al. 2003). Tolerance and VIF values of both proactive (tolerance = .19 and VIF = 5.23) and reactive (tolerance = .19 and VIF = 5.27) aggression were acceptable, suggesting that multicolinearity between the aggression subtypes was not a concern in the present study.

  2. There is some evidence to suggest that there may be gender differences in the link between verbal intelligence and reactive aggression (e.g., Connor et al. 2003) as well as the impact of peers on problem behavior (Burks et al. 1995). Accordingly, a multiple group model approach was employed to determine if associated varied across gender. Constraining paths to be equal across the groups did not result in a significant decrement in the model fit, ∆χ2(8) = 4.79, p = .78, suggesting that no gender differences were evident.

  3. Due to the large age range included in the study, age was examined as a moderator in the proposed mediated pathways by adding aggression × age (i.e., proactive aggression × age and reactive aggression × age) and social problem × age interactions to the model. No significant interactions were found (ps > .25), suggesting that associations did not vary as a function of age.

References

  • Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arbuckle, J. L. (1996). Full information estimation in the presence of incomplete data. In G. A. Marcoulides & R. E. Shumaker (Eds.), Advanced structural equation modeling: Issues and techniques (pp. 243–277). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arsenio, W. F., Adams, E., & Gold, J. (2009). Social information processing, moral reasoning, and emotion attributions: Relations with adolescents’ reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development, 80, 1739–1755.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A social learning analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkowitz, L. (1978). Whatever happened to the frustration-aggression hypothesis? American Behavioral Scientist, 32, 691–708.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierman, K. L. (2004). Peer rejection: Developmental processes and intervention strategies. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burks, V. S., Dodge, K. A., & Price, J. M. (1995). Models of internalizing outcomes of early rejection. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 683–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C., Prior, M., & Kinsella, G. (2002). The relationship between executive function abilities, adaptive behaviour, and academic achievement in children with externalizing behaviour problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 785–796.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coie, J. D. (1990). Toward a theory of peer rejection. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 365–401). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor, D. F., Steingard, R. J., Anderson, J. J., & Melloni, R. H. (2003). Gender differences in reactive and proactive aggression. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 33, 279–294.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Day, D. M., Bream, L. A., & Pal, A. (1992). Proactive and reactive aggression: An analysis of subtypes based on teacher perceptions. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21, 210–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, K. A., & Coie, J. D. (1987). Social information-processing factors in reactive and proactive aggression in children’s peer groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1146–1158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, K. A., Lansford, J. E., Burks, V. S., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Fontaine, R., et al. (2003). Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Development, 74, 374–393.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, K. A., Lochman, J. E., Harnish, J. D., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1997). Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psychiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 37–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, K. A., & Pettit, G. S. (2003). A biopsychosocial model of the development of chronic conduct problems in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 39, 349–371.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durlak, J. A. (2009). How to select, calculate, and interpret effect sizes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 917–928.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (2007). Pathways from proactive and reactive aggression to substance use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 355–364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (2008). Developmental trajectories of proactive and reactive aggression from fifth to ninth grade. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 412–421.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., & Pelham, W. (2006). A factor analytic approach to distinguishing pure and co-occurring dimensions of proactive and reactive aggression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 578–582.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Raine, A., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Loeber, R., & Pardini, D. A. (2010). Reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent males: Examining differential outcomes 10 years later in early adulthood. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 37, 141–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Rathert, J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (2012a). Proactive and reactive aggression. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 2164–2170). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Rathert, J. L., Stoppelbein, L., & Greening, L. (2012b). Social problems as a mediator of the link between reactive aggression and withdrawn/depressed symptoms. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21, 184–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Wimsatt, A. R., Vitulano, M. L., Rathert, J. L., & Schwartz, S. (2012c). Examination of peer rejection and depressive symptoms as mediators of the link between rule-breaking behavior and poor academic performance. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 34, 164–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fite, P. J., Wynn, P., & Pardini, D. (2009). Explaining discrepancies in arrest rates between black and white male juveniles. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 916–927.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hinshaw, S. P. (1992). Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 127.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 60, 1–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kazdin, A. E. (2010). Problem-solving skills training and parent management training for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. In J. R. Weisz & A. E. Kazdin (Eds.), Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (2nd ed., pp. 211–226). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D., Henrich, C. C., Jones, S. M., & Hawley, P. H. (2003). Disentangling the “whys” from the “whats” of aggressive behavior. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 122–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loveland, J. M., Lounsdbury, J. W., Welsh, D., & Buboltz, W. C. (2007). The validity of physical aggression in predicting adolescent academic achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 167–176.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., & Williams, J. (2004). Confidence limits for the indirect effect: Distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 99–128.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., Coatsworth, J. D., Neemannn, J., Gest, S. D., Tellegen, A., & Garmezy, N. (1995). The structure and coherence of competence from childhood through adolescence. Child Development, 66, 1635–1659.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., Roisman, G. I., Long, J. D., Burt, K. B., Obradovic, J., Riley, J. R., et al. (2005). Developmental cascades: Linking academic achievement and externalizing and internalizing symptoms over 20 years. Developmental Psychology, 41, 733–746.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2010). The comprehensive modeling program for applied researcher (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nas, C. N., Orobio de Castro, B., & Koops, W. (2005). Social information processing in delinquent adolescents. Psychology, Crime, & Law, 11, 363–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nigg, J. T., Quamma, J. P., Greenberg, M. T., & Kusche, C. A. (1999). A two-year longitudinal study of neuropsychological and cognitive performance in relation to behavioral problems and competencies in elementary school children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 51–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., & Aikins, J. W. (2004). Cognitive moderators of the longitudinal association between peer rejection and adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 32, 147–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., Boergers, J., Spirito, A., Little, T. D., & Grapentine, W. L. (2000). Peer functioning, family dysfunction, and psychological symptoms in a risk factor model for adolescent inpatients’ suicidal ideation severity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 29, 392–405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raine, A., Dodge, K. A., Loeber, R., Gatzke-Kopp, L., Lynam, D., Reynolds, C., et al. (2006). The reactive-proactive aggression questionnaire: Differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 159–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roisman, G. I., Masten, A. S., Coatsword, J. D., & Tellegen, A. (2004). Salient and emerging developmental tasks in transition to adulthood. Child Development, 75, 123–133.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W., & Parker, J. G. (1998). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 619–700). New York, NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Education (2010). Digest of Education Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/.

  • Vitaro, F., & Brendgen, M. (2011). Subtypes of aggressive behaviors: Etiologies, development and consequences. In T. Bliesnder, A. Beelman, & M. Stemmler (Eds.), Antisocial behavior and crime: Contributions of theory and evaluation research to prevention and intervention. Goettingen, Germany: Hogrefe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., & Barker, E. D. (2006). Subtypes of aggressive behaviors: A developmental perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30, 12–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waschbusch, D. A., Willoughby, M. T., & Pelham, W. E. (1998). Criterion validity and the utility of reactive and proactive aggression: Comparisons to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and other measures of functioning. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 396–405.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Webster-Stratton, C. (1990). Long-term follow-up of families with young conduct prnlem children: From preschool to grade school. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 19, 144–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster-Stratton, C., & Reid, M. J. (2003). Treating conduct problems and strengthening social and emotional competence in young children: The dina dinosaur treatment program. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 11, 130–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paula J. Fite.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fite, P.J., Hendrickson, M., Rubens, S.L. et al. The Role of Peer Rejection in the Link between Reactive Aggression and Academic Performance. Child Youth Care Forum 42, 193–205 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-013-9199-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-013-9199-9

Keywords

Navigation