Popularity, social preference, and social behaviors: the moderation of social status goals
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study investigated the associations between attained status and adolescents’ social behaviors, as well as the moderating effects of social status goals, culture, and gender. Participants were 1,267 adolescents (Mage = 13.36; 49% girls overall) from China (n = 667) and the United Sates (n = 600). Social status goals, relational and overt aggression, and prosocial behaviors were self-reported, whereas popularity and social preference were peer reported. The findings suggest that the relationships between popularity and relational aggression and overt aggression were stronger when adolescents endorsed high popularity goals, whereas this relationship was weaker when these adolescents endorsed high social preference goals. For prosocial behaviors, these associations were stronger when adolescents endorsed high social preference goals, but lower when they endorsed high popularity goals. The patterns for social preference were stronger for Chinese adolescents, while the relationships for popularity were stronger for American adolescents. No moderation effects were found for gender. These findings indicate the need to consider the cultural context when examining adolescents’ social status and the associated social behaviors.
Downloads
Article Details
The journal retains the economic copyright of contributions that are accepted for publication. This means that it acquires the exclusive use of the document to be edited, disseminated, preserved, etc. in any support and for the time stipulated by the local legislation that regulates the performance of the publication.
Psychology, Society & Education is published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
References
Aarts, H. (2012). Goals, motivated social cognition, and behavior. In S. T. Fiske & C. N. Macrae (Eds.), The Sage handbook of social cognition (pp. 75-95). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446247631.n5
Bukowski, W. M. (2011). Popularity as a social concept: Meanings and significance. In A. H. N.
Cillessen, D. Schwartz, & L. Mayeux (Eds.), Popularity in the peer system (pp. 25–56). Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_46
Chen, X., Lee, J., & Chen, L. (2018). Culture and peer relationships. In W. M. Bukowski, B. Laursen, & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (pp. 552-570). Guilford Press.
Cillessen, A. H. N., & Marks, P. E. L. (2011). Conceptualizing and measuring popularity. In A. H. N. Cillessen, D. Schwartz, & L. Mayeux (Eds.), Popularity in the peer system (pp. 25–56). Guilford Press.
Cillessen, A., & Mayeux, L. (2004). From censure to reinforcement: Developmental changes in association between aggression and social status. Child Development, 75(1), 147-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00660.x
Closson, L. M. (2009). Aggressive and prosocial behaviors within early adolescent friendship cliques: What’s status got to do with it? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 55(4), 406-435. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.0.0035
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(4), 557-570. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.18.4.557
Cotter, D., Hermsen, J. M., & Vanneman, R. (2011). The end of the gender revolution? Gender role attitudes from 1977 to 2008. American Journal of Sociology, 117(1), 259-289. https://doi.org/10.1086/658853
Covington, M. V. (2000). Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: An integrative review. Annual Review of Psychology, 51(1), 171–190. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.171.
Crick, N.R., (1996). The role of overt aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior in the prediction of children’s future social adjustment. Child Development, 67(5), 2317-2327. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131625
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66(3), 710-722. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131945
De Bruyn, E. H., & Cillessen, A. H. N. (2006). Popularity in early adolescence: Prosocial and antisocial subtypes. Journal of Adolescent Research, 21, 607-627. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558406293966.
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256
Fishbach, A., & Ferguson, M. F. (2007). The goal construct in social psychology. In A. W. Kruglanski & T. E. Higgins (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 490–515). Guilford.
Hawley, P. H. (2003). Prosocial and coercive configurations of resource control in early adolescence: A case for the well-adapted Machiavellian. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology, 49, 279–309. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2003.0013
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. McGraw-Hill.
Hymel, S., Rubin, K., Rowden, L., & LeMare, L. (1990). Children’s peer relationships: Longitudinal prediction of internalizing and externalizing problems from middle to late childhood. Child Development, 61(6), 2004-2021. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130854
Jarvinen, D. W., & Nicholls, J. G. (1996). Adolescents’ social goals, beliefs about the causes of social success, and satisfaction in peer relations. Developmental Psychology, 32(3), 435-441. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.32.3.435
Kiefer, S. M., & Ryan, A. M. (2008). Striving for social dominance over peers: The implications for academic adjustment during early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 417–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.100.2.417
Kraatz-Keily, M., Bates, J., Dodge, A., & Pettit, G. (2000). A cross-domain growth analysis: Externalizing and internalizing behaviors during 8 years of childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28(2), 161-179. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005122814723
LaFontana, K. M., & Cillessen, A. H. (1999). Children’s interpersonal perceptions as a function of sociometric and peer-perceived popularity. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 160(2), 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221329909595394
LaFontana, K. M., & Cillessen, A. H. (2002). Children’s perceptions of popular and unpopular peers: A multimethod assessment. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 635-647. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.5.635
Levy, I., Kaplan, A., & Patrick, H. (2004). Early adolescents’ achievement goals, social status, and attitudes towards cooperation with peers. Social Psychology of Education, 7(2), 127-159. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SPOE.0000018547.08294.b6
Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of American Statistical Association, 83(404), 1198-1202. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722
Li, Y., & Wright, M. F. (2013). Adolescents’ social status goals: Relationship to social status insecurity and behaviors. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 42(5), 662-674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9903-3
Mayeux, L., & Cillessen, A.H.N. (2008). It’s not just being popular, it’s knowing it, too: The role of self-perceptions of status in the associations between peer status and aggression. Social Development, 17(4), 871-888. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00474.x
Menzer, M. M., & Torney-Purta, J. (2012). Individualism and socioeconomic diversity at school as related to perceptions of the frequency of peer aggression in fifteen countries. Journal of Adolescence, 35(5), 1285-1294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.04.013
Nesdale, D., & Naito, M. (2005). Individualism-collectivism and the attitudes to school bullying of Japanese and Australian Students. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36(5), 537-556. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022105278541
Ollendick, T. H., Weist, M. D., Borden, M. C., & Greene, R. W. (1992). Sociometric status and academic behavior, and psychological adjustment: A five-year longitudinal. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(1), 80-87. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.60.1.80
Ojanen, T., Gronroos, M., & Salmivalli, C. (2005). Applying the interpersonal circumplex model to children’s social goals: Connections with peer reported behavior and sociometric status. Developmental Psychology, 41(5), 699-710. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.5.699
Parkhurst, J., & Hopmeyer, A. (1998). Sociometric popularity and peer-perceived popularity: Two distinct dimensions of peer status. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 18(2), 125-144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431698018002001
Prinstein, M. J., & Cillessen, A. H. (2003). Forms and functions of adolescent peer aggression associated with high levels of peer status. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 49(3), 310-342. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2003.0015
Rodkin, P., Farmer, T., Pearl, R., & Van Acker, R. (2000). Heterogeneity of popular boys: Antisocial and prosocial configurations. Developmental Psychology, 36(1), 14-24. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.36.1.14
Rose, A. J., & Asher, S. R. (1999). Children’s goals and strategies in response to conflicts within a friendship. Developmental Psychology, 35, 69-79. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.1.69
Rose, A. J., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 98-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98
Rose, A. J., Swenson, L. P., & Waller, E. M. (2004). Overt and relational aggression and perceived popularity: Developmental differences in concurrent and prospective relations. Developmental Psychology, 40(3), 378-387. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.3.378
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (1998). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3, Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 619-700). Wiley.
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2006). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 5, Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 571-645). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0310
Ryan, A. M., Hicks, L., & Midgley, C. (1997). Social goals, academic goals, and avoiding seeking help in the classroom. Journal of Early Adolescence, 17, 152-171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431697017002003
Sijtsema, J. J., Veenstra, R., Lindenberg, S., & Salmivalli, C. (2009). Empirical test of bullies’ status goals: Assessing direct goals, aggression, and prestige. Aggressive Behavior, 35(1), 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20282.
Wright, M. F., Li, Y., & Shi, J. (2014). Chinese adolescents’ social status goals: Associations with behaviors and attributions for relational aggression. Youth & Society, 46(4), 566-588. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12448800
Xie, H., Swift, D., Cairns, B., & Cairns, R. (2002). Aggressive behaviors in social interaction and developmental adaptation: A narrative analysis of interpersonal conflicts during early adolescence. Social Development, 11(2), 205-224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00195
Zhang, Y. B., Lin, M., Nonaka, A., & Beom, K. (2005). Harmony, hierarchy and conservatism: A cross-cultural comparison of Confucian values in China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Communication Research Reports, 22(2), 107-115. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036810500130539
Zhou, X., Lou, C., Gao, E., Cheng, Y., Niu, H., & Zabin, L. S. (2012). Gender differences in adolescent premarital sexual permissiveness in three Asian cities: Effects of gender-role attitudes. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(3), S18-S25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.12.001