Seeking Dominance: An Examination of Social Perception, Conflict Engagement, and Subtype Retention of Prosocial-Aggressive Youths

Abstract

This study examined the behavior retention and social cognition of bistrategic youths (i.e., those who employ both aggressive and prosocial behavior) in order to further understand their competence in social functioning. Our sample consists of 318 5th grade participants and 341 6th grade participants recruited from an urban school district in the northeastern U.S. Bistrategic youths were found to retain their behavior subtype over semester transitions (i.e., 5th spring to 6th fall and 6th fall to 6th spring), but not across a full year. Evidence also showed that bistrategic youths are able to report greater peer group information than some, although not all, of their other subtype peers. Results show little variation across subtypes regarding beliefs regarding efficacy of prosocial and aggressive behavior in obtaining popularity. However, bistrategic youths were shown to employ higher status peers in acts of social aggression at the 5th spring time point. Findings extend previous research demonstrating the social success of bistrategic youths by providing complementary information on social cognitive measures.