In this study, researchers wished to ascertain whether there were age (three- and four-year old), sibling (with or without older siblings), and sex (male and female) differences in the use of relational aggression in preschool students as rated by peers and teachers. In order to answer this research question, two 2 × 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA procedures with the relational aggression composite score as the dependent variable on the PSBS-P and PSBS-T were used for peer and teacher assessment, respectively, of relational aggression. Results revealed that in the peer ratings of preschool students' relationally aggressive behavior, there was an disordinal age by sibling interaction, in which four-year-old children with siblings were significantly more likely to be rated by their peers as using relational aggression than three-year-old children without siblings. In the teacher ratings of preschool students' relationally aggressive behavior, a main effect for age was observed. Teachers rated four-year old children as evidencing significantly higher levels of relational aggression as compared to three-year-olds. No sex differences were observed in the use of relational aggression either at age three or age four in this sample. Implications for these findings are presented.
Numerous studies have revealed that youth who use and/or are victims of relational aggression are at higher risk for psychological and social adjustment problems than those not involved in relationally aggressive conflicts (e.g., [
To date, most of the research on relational aggression has focused upon school-age youth, particularly adolescents. This is likely partly due to the fact that relational aggression has been typically portrayed as being more characteristic of girls than boys, and the predominant theories of the development of aggression suggest that behavioral problems amongst girls are unlikely to appear until early adolescence [
Indeed, although relational aggression tends to be more prevalent in the school age years and beyond due to children’s cognitive abilities and social networks [
Consistent with the reality that the variables of bullying and age have not been exhaustively investigated, it was once thought that preschool-age boys and girls both began using physical aggression to bully others because they lacked the social and language skills to be relationally aggressive [
Sibling relationships have recently begun to receive increased empirical focus as a potential contributor to the development of relational aggression. Siblings provide for many children the first opportunities for socialization, and research indicates that the influence of sibling relationships is distinct from that of parents. Bank et al. [
The limited research regarding the role of siblings in the use of relational aggression amongst preschool-age children suggests that this is an important area of inquiry. Stauffacher and DeHart [
The present study also examined sex differences amongst preschoolers. Although relational aggression is often presented as more characteristic of girls and physical aggression more typical of males (e.g., [
The participants of the study consisted of 68 three- and four-year-old male and female children enrolled in preschool programs in southwestern Pennsylvania. Because two parents requested that their children not participate in the peer assessment of relational aggression, the responses from these individuals were subsequently deleted from the final dataset. Tabachnick and Fidell [
Description of the sample by gender, ethnicity, and age.
Gender | % | |
Male | 36 | 54.5% |
Female | 30 | 45.5% |
Total | 66 | 100% |
Ethnicity | % | |
Caucasian | 59 | 89.4% |
African-american | 4 | 6.1% |
Other | 3 | 4.5% |
Total | 66 | 100% |
Age | % | |
3-years-old | 28 | 42.4% |
4-years-old | 38 | 57.6% |
Total | 66 | 100% |
The social behavior of the preschool participants of the study was evaluated through teacher and peer ratings. Accordingly, the Preschool Social Behavior Scale-Teacher Form (PSBS-T) was used in order to assess teachers’ perceptions of preschool students’ social behavior [
Procedures to classify children as relationally aggressive were followed according to those used in past research [
The reliability of the PSBS-T is high, with Cronbach’s alpha for the four scales as follows:
Crick and colleagues [
During the picture nomination interview, children are asked to point to pictures of participating children in his or her classroom, such as “Point to the pictures of three children who you like to play with” and “Point to the pictures of three children who whisper mean things about other children.” The measure consists of 19 items and contains the following 3 subscales: (1) peer acceptance, (2) peer rejection, and (3) relational aggression. Seven items assess relational aggression, 7 assess overt aggression, and 4 assess prosocial behavior. For the purposes of this research, only the relational aggression subscale was used from this measure.
The PSBS-P was scored according to the procedures outlined by Crick and Grotpeter [
The reliability coefficients for the PSBS-P are satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha for the three scales as follows:
Upon receiving approval from the principal author’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), the researchers identified preschools within a county in southwestern Pennsylvania using the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Keystone Stars listing available via the internet. Seventeen childcare facilities were contacted, and eight of the facilities participated in the research. The researcher contacted the director of each preschool by phone or E-mail to explain the nature of the study as well as assess his or her interest in participating. Upon receiving approval from the preschool director, the researcher provided the director with a packet of information to distribute to parents of all three- and four-year-old children at their childcare center. The packet included a letter explaining the nature of the study in addition to written consent forms. Parents of prospective participants then returned a signed consent form to their child’s teacher or center director.
After written parent permission was received, the researcher supplied each participating child’s classroom teacher with a written consent form. At this time, the researcher reviewed the assessment procedures to be used with each individual child. Prior to the administration of the individualized assessments, the researcher met individually with each participating child to discuss the nature of the study as well as to allow for the child to provide assent for participation in the study. One hundred percent of the participating children provided their assent. The individual assessments were conducted in an unoccupied room or in a quiet area of the classroom.
Preschool teachers were provided with written and verbal instructions regarding how to complete the PSBS-T. Participating teachers completed one rating scale per each participating child, and if there was more than one teacher per classroom, such individuals completed the measure together to ensure a shared perspective of behavior. Because preschool classrooms often have more than one teacher, researchers recommend that teachers complete the measure as a group to encourage the compilation of the most accurate information about each child [
The PSBS-P, a picture-nomination procedure, was used during an interview with each participating preschool student. The primary investigator photographed each participant, who was subsequently presented with pictures of each participating child in the classroom and was asked to name each child. These procedures encouraged participants to consider the entire class of children before responding to the items as well as to confirm that the child recognized the children in his or her classroom. Next, the child was presented with several practice items in order to help him or her learn the response format of the measure. The child was shown pictures of three common food items (e.g., carrots, cookies, and apples) and was asked to point to his or her most preferred food, followed by the next preferred, and finally, to the food item least preferred. When the child understood the response format, the examiner continued with the behavioral items of the PSBS-P.
For each item, the researcher asked the child to point to up to three pictures of peers who matched the behavioral descriptor (i.e., point to the picture of a child who whispers mean things about other children, and point to a picture of one more child who whispers mean things about other children, point to one more child who whispers mean things about other children). The number of nominations each child received from classmates for each item was computed and then standardized within each classroom using
In this study, researchers wished to ascertain whether there were age (three- and four-year old), sibling (with or without older siblings), and sex (male and female) differences in the use of relational aggression in preschool students as rated by peers and teachers. In order to answer this research question, a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA with the relational aggression composite score as the dependent variable was used for peer assessment of preschool students’ relationally aggressive behavior. A second factorial ANOVA was conducted using the Relational Aggression composite scores from the teacher assessment of preschool students’ relationally aggressive behavior. A MANOVA was not chosen because the scores only have 10% of variance in common. For this analysis, alpha was set at a .05 level of significance. Table
Means and standard deviations for emotion knowledge and relational aggression across depressed affect groups.
Emotion knowledge | Teacher RA | Peer RA | ||||
SD | SD | SD | ||||
Depressed affect | 48.22 | 7.52 | 12.06 | 5.41 | −.265 | .855 |
Non-depressed affect | 48.75 | 7.82 | 9.52 | 4.76 | .099 | .966 |
First, a strong, positive correlation was found between peer and teacher ratings of relational aggression (
Consistent with findings documented in the previous literature (e.g., [
Although there is some evidence that older children use relational aggression to a greater degree than younger children (e.g., [
These findings are also consistent with previous research in which one study showed that relational aggression is the most frequently used form of aggression that siblings use towards each other, which may influence the opportunity for the learning of such behaviors within the family environment [
The findings of this research may exemplify Bandura’s [
The current findings are important as they build on the extant literature showing that teachers and peers can identify relational aggression in young children (e.g., [
It is important to mention that in this study, no differences in use of relational aggression were found based on sex. In general, the differences in the use of relational aggression based on sex in the extant literature base are mixed. Our findings add to the research demonstrating that this is not a consistently reliable variable needed to understand relational aggression in preschoolers (e.g., [
A unique contribution of this study is the differences in relational aggression documented between the three- and four-year olds. In our sample, the four-year olds were significantly more relationally aggressive as rated by teachers and peers. These findings, in light of work by Casas et al. [
Based upon this and other research on this topic, there is an accumulation of evidence that during the preschool period, likely before the age of three, the first opportunities to decrease the use of relational aggression exist. Parents, who are aware of sibling conflicts, and particularly their children’s use of relational aggression, should be advised to seek intervention services as relational aggression tends to increase across the developmental period if unchecked. Otherwise, it is likely that the use of relational aggression with siblings will continue on with peers (e.g., [
There are several limitations of the current study to consider in light of the findings. First, using a validated direct observation system in addition to the rating scales may have identified a different sample of children or improved the description of the sample. Future studies with preschool age children may consider characterizing the child’s perception (e.g., his or her stated intent) of the relationally aggressive act. A significant concern in understanding relational aggression in preschool age children is that, by definition, the actions are to
Furthermore, the specifics of when and how relational aggression occurs need to be further documented. That is, the use, frequency, severity, and outcome of relational aggression among siblings in which there is no ability for either child to leave the relationship may vary substantially when compared to peer relations where, presumably, either of the children, could terminate the relationship [