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In social groups, such as school-based peer networks, youth often vie for power and dominance over others. Different strategies may be used to gain power (i.e., coercive and/or cooperative strategies), and with varying levels of success. Using a social networks approach, we examined whether and how social network centrality and social network prestige were associated with social strategies, social power, and peer reputation. Participants were fifth- to eighth-grade elementary school students (N = 466, 51% girls, 63% White) in southern Ontario, Canada. Peer nominations were used to assess social network centrality and prestige (via friendship nominations), social power strategies (coercive and cooperative strategies), social power, and peer reputation (popularity and likeability). Results indicated that coercive and cooperative strategies were used by youth high in both centrality and prestige, but that only high prestige related to power, popularity, and likeability. Results have implications for the usefulness of a social networks approach to understanding the structure of youths' social relationships and power in school settings, as well as practical implications for teachers and other school staff.

This study extended previous research published in this journal in which parental monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with tolerance of antisocial behavior in adolescents with temperamental deficits in self-regulation. In the current study, parental control (i.e., adolescent permission seeking) and adolescent self-disclosure were negatively associated with attitudinal tolerance of antisocial behavior. Additionally, Honesty-Humility and Emotionality were negatively related to antisocial attitudes, and parental control was related to tolerance of antisocial behavior only when Honesty-Humility was low. In both studies, parental behavioral control was related more strongly to antisocial attitudes when adolescents had traits that predisposed them to antisocial behavior.

The current study examined whether personality traits were related to social dominance, directly, and indirectly through bullying, in samples of Western (Canadian) and Eastern (Chinese) adolescents. Self-report measures of personality, bullying, and social dominance were completed by 442 Chinese adolescents (293 boys), ages 14 to 19 (M = 14.63, SD = 1.53), and 389 Canadian adolescents (161 boys), ages 12 to 18 (M = 14.64, SD = 1.53). It was predicted that personality traits involving arrogance and exploitativeness (i.e., low Honesty-Humility) and impulsivity (i.e., low Conscientiousness) would be indirectly associated with social dominance, through bullying, in both samples. Consistent with evolutionary psychological perspectives, Honesty-Humility was directly and indirectly related to social dominance in both samples, whereas Conscientiousness was indirectly associated through bullying in Canadian and Chinese participants. Some relations differed across cultural contexts, in line with evolutionary and ecological perspectives suggesting that the expression of predispositions toward bullying and dominance depends on the costs and benefits afforded by the environmental (cultural) context. Specifically, eXtraversion was indirectly related to social dominance through bullying only in the Chinese sample, whereas Agreeableness was directly related to social dominance only for Canadian participants. We discuss the implications of these results for future research and intervention efforts along with the need to further verify the cross-cultural validity of adolescent behavior measures., Author(s): Anthony A. Volk [sup.1] , Daniel A. Provenzano [sup.2] , Ann H. Farrell [sup.3] , Andrew V. Dane [sup.1] , Elizabeth P. Shulman [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411793.9, 0000 [...]

This study investigates children's understanding of school bullying and victimization as represented through drawings, narratives and open-ended qualitative questions. Eighty-two children (8-9-year-olds, n=30, M=8;7; 10-11-year-olds, n=18, M=10;7; and 11-12-year-olds, n=34, M=11;9) from a mainly Euro-Canadian, mid-socioeconomic city in Ontario, Canada, participated in individual interviews that required them to draw and narrate stories of "someone being bullied". Comments on bullies' motives reflected proactive/instrumental and reactive/emotional aggression, but also suggested sadistic aspects of bullying that are not fully captured in existing subtypes of aggression. Participants' narratives also indicated that it may be crucial to create comprehensive anti-bullying interventions that include a component on moral values related to bullying and victimization.

This study examined adolescents' cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending previous research showing that traditional forms of bullying, aggression, and victimization are associated with reproductively relevant outcomes. Consistent with hypotheses based on theory and research linking bullying and aggression to intrasexual competition for mates, results indicated that cyber victimization was positively associated with a number of dating and sexual partners. Findings for cyber aggression were more complex, depending on the degree of cyber victimization experienced by the perpetrator, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Specifically, nonbullying cyber aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim had stronger positive relations with the number of dating or sexual partners when perpetrators experienced a high level of cyber victimhood. In contrast, cyberbullying by perpetrators with more power than the victim was negatively associated with the number of dating partners when the perpetrators' exposure to cyber victimization was low. Although cyber aggression and cyber victimization are new forms of aggression that involve the use of modern electronic devices, the results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of viewing this behavior from an evolutionary perspective and show that adolescents are likely to use cyber aggression against rivals in the context of intrasexual competition for mates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventionally, individual differences have been assessed using temperament measures for infants and children, and personality measures for adults. We chose to explore both temperament and personality to see whether a convergence exists specifically during adolescence. A sample of 225 adolescents completed Rothbart's Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire–Revised (EATQ–R), a 4-factor temperament scale, and the HEXACO Personality Inventory–Revised (HEXACO PI–R), a 6-factor personality scale. As hypothesized, we found significant relations between the 2 measures. However, there were some important differences between the 2 measures regarding Honesty–Humility, Openness, and Frustration that highlight the unique contributions of both instruments to understanding and measuring adolescent individual differences. As there is a relatively scant history of measuring temperament or personality in adolescence, it is sometimes difficult for researchers to decide which instrument is most appropriate. The results reported here suggest that either the EATQ–R or the HEXACO PI–R could be appropriate, depending on the specific research questions being asked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]