Social Aggression: Precursors and Outcomes

描述（由申请人提供）：这项纵向调查将检查参与和成为社会和身体攻击受害者的发展前驱和结果。身体攻击会造成或威胁到身体伤害，而社会攻击会通过破坏他人的友谊、同伴关系或社会地位来伤害他人。社会攻击包括社会排斥、操纵友谊、恶意八卦以及非语言的疏远和操纵行为。社会攻击对儿童的伤害与心理社会适应不良有关，但还需要纵向研究来探索社会攻击和身体攻击的前驱、稳定性和后遗症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This longitudinal investigation will examine developmental precursors and outcomes of engaging in and being the victim of social and physical aggression. Whereas physical aggression inflicts or threatens bodily harm, social aggression hurts others by damaging their friendships, peer relations, or social status. Social aggression includes behaviors such as social exclusion, friendship manipulation, malicious gossip, and non-verbal efforts at alienation and manipulation. Preliminary studies have established that social aggression hurts children and is related to psychosocial maladjustment, but longitudinal research is needed to explore precursors, stability, and sequelae of perpetrating and being victimized by social and physical aggression. This study will follow a normal sample of 300 children from ages 9 - 14, a developmental period in which social aggression has been shown to become more frequent and intense. This investigation will examine how frequently children engage in and experience these behaviors and explore whether and when gender differences emerge, using multiple methods to measure social aggression (observations and telephone interviews, as well as peer nominations and teacher and parent reports). This study will explore factors that may contribute to individual differences in engaging in and being victimized by social and physical aggression: family, peer group, and school factors. This research will investigate developmental outcomes associated with engaging in and being the victim of social and physical aggression: qualities of peer and romantic relationships, self-concept, academic progress, identity formation, externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, personality difficulties, and eating disorder symptoms. This study will explore developmental precursors of adolescent psychopathology for both girls and boys, with the long-term goal of determining whether reducing social aggression might be helpful in preventing externalizing symptoms, internalizing problems, personality disorders, and eating disorders.