title: Peer rejection, aggressive or withdrawn behavior, and psychological maladjustment from ages 5 to 12: an examination of four predictive models.
abstract: Findings yielded a comprehensive portrait of the predictive relations among children's aggressive or withdrawn behaviors, peer rejection, and psychological maladjustment across the 5-12 age period. Examination of peer rejection in different variable contexts and across repeated intervals throughout childhood revealed differences in the timing, strength, and consistency of this risk factor as a distinct (additive) predictor of externalizing versus internalizing problems. In conjunction with aggressive behavior, peer rejection proved to be a stronger additive predictor of externalizing problems during early rather than later childhood. Relative to withdrawn behavior, rejection's efficacy as a distinct predictor of internalizing problems was significant early in childhood and increased progressively thereafter. These additive path models fit the data better than did disorder-driven or transactional models.
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2502, USA. gary.ladd@asu.edu
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Ladd
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006948:Hyperkinesis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011599:Psychopathology; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012934:Social Isolation; D012951:Socialization; D013223:Statistics as Topic