Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

Kim Pattiselanno; Jan Kornelis Dijkstra; Christian Steglich; Wilma Vollebergh; Rene Veenstra

doi:10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4

Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

Kim Pattiselanno^*, Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, Christian Steglich, Wilma Vollebergh, Rene Veenstra

^*Corresponding author for this work

Youth in Changing Cultural Contexts

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls') cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys' and girls') cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2257-2274
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume	44
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4
Publication status	Published - Dec 2015

Funding

This research is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Participating centers of TRAILS include various departments of the University Medical Center and University of Groningen, the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, the University of Utrecht, the Radboud Medical Center Nijmegen, and the Parnassia Bavo group, all in the Netherlands. TRAILS has been financially supported by various grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO (Medical Research Council Program Grant GB-MW 940-38-011; ZonMW Brainpower Grant 100-001-004; ZonMw Risk Behavior and Dependence Grants 60-60600-98-018 and 60-60600-97-118; ZonMw Culture and Health Grant 261-98-710; Social Sciences Council Medium-Sized Investment Grants GB-MaGW 480-01-006 and GB-MaGW 480-07-001; Social Sciences Council Project Grants GB-MaGW 457-03-018, GB-MaGW 452-04-314, and GB-MaGW 452-06-004; NWO Large-Sized Investment Grant 175.010.2003.005; NWO Longitudinal Survey and Panel Funding 481-08-013); the Sophia Foundation for Medical Research (Projects 301 and 393), the Dutch Ministry of Justice (WODC), the European Science Foundation (EuroSTRESS Project FP-006), and the participating universities. We are grateful to all adolescents, their parents and teachers who participated in this research and to everyone who worked on this project and made it possible. Furthermore, part of this research was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Jeugd en Gezin Project number 431-09-027 and Vernieuwingsimpuls (VENI) Project number 451-10-012 awarded to Jan Kornelis Dijkstra (2010).

Keywords

Cliques
Hierarchy
Peer status
Popularity
Aggression
Prosocial behavior
DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES
PERCEIVED POPULARITY
ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT
SOCIOMETRIC STATUS
PRIMARY-SCHOOL
SAME-GENDER
PEER STATUS
BEHAVIOR
FRIENDSHIP
CHILDHOOD

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10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4

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title = "Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality",

abstract = "Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls') cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys' and girls') cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.",

keywords = "Cliques, Hierarchy, Peer status, Popularity, Aggression, Prosocial behavior, DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES, PERCEIVED POPULARITY, ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT, SOCIOMETRIC STATUS, PRIMARY-SCHOOL, SAME-GENDER, PEER STATUS, BEHAVIOR, FRIENDSHIP, CHILDHOOD",

author = "Kim Pattiselanno and Dijkstra, {Jan Kornelis} and Christian Steglich and Wilma Vollebergh and Rene Veenstra",

year = "2015",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4",

language = "English",

volume = "44",

pages = "2257--2274",

journal = "Journal of Youth and Adolescence",

issn = "0047-2891",

publisher = "Springer New York",

number = "12",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Structure Matters

T2 - The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

AU - Pattiselanno, Kim

AU - Dijkstra, Jan Kornelis

AU - Steglich, Christian

AU - Vollebergh, Wilma

AU - Veenstra, Rene

PY - 2015/12

Y1 - 2015/12

N2 - Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls') cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys' and girls') cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.

AB - Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls') cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys' and girls') cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.

KW - Cliques

KW - Hierarchy

KW - Peer status

KW - Popularity

KW - Aggression

KW - Prosocial behavior

KW - DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES

KW - PERCEIVED POPULARITY

KW - ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT

KW - SOCIOMETRIC STATUS

KW - PRIMARY-SCHOOL

KW - SAME-GENDER

KW - PEER STATUS

KW - BEHAVIOR

KW - FRIENDSHIP

KW - CHILDHOOD

U2 - 10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4

DO - 10.1007/s10964-015-0310-4

M3 - Article

SN - 0047-2891

VL - 44

SP - 2257

EP - 2274

JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

IS - 12

ER -

Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

Abstract

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Keywords

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