Yearning for popularity: how do popularity determinants and popularity goals predict aggression and experiences in the peer group?

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Date
2021
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Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

Previous studies have indicated that adolescents are more likely to prioritize popularity goals over other values such as maintaining friendships and academics, and popularity goals are associated with adolescents’ relational and overt aggression. However, there has been little attention to exploring why adolescents who want to be popular act aggressively. Research has not yet examined how popularity goals and beliefs about determinants of popularity may interact to predict adolescent aggression. Additionally, aggression, in general, is not accepted by the peer group. Moreover, there have been mixed findings about whether popularity goals and popularity status interact to predict aggression. Thus, the current study aimed to examine how aggression may explain how popularity goals are related to victimization and if these relationships differed by how youth thought about popularity, their popularity status, and between boys and girls. Participants were 292 adolescents (60.3% females, 55.5% 8th grade, and 85% White/Caucasian) from the Southern United States. The current study found that overt aggression partly explained the relation of popularity goals with victimization. Our study also found that relational aggression accounted for the association between popularity goals and victimization for girls, but popularity status strengthened this indirect effect. The findings suggest that understanding motivations for popularity may be important for explaining positive and negative peer group dynamics.

Description
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Developmental psychology, Psychology
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