A cross-contextual analysis of boys' social competence: From family to school.

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which the hostile attributions and coercive behaviors of mothers and sons were associated with indexes of aggression, acceptance by peers, and teacher-rated social competence in the peer group. Ss were 104 married and divorced mothers and their sons (7 to 9 years old). Mothers' and sons' hostile attributions were significantly related to the coerciveness of their interactions, but only mothers' attributions related to reports of the children's aggression in the classroom. Boys who reported many stressful events in their lives behaved coercively with their mothers and were viewed as more aggressive and less socially competent with peers. The relation between stressful life events and the boys' aggression with their peers was mediated, in part, by boys' coerciveness with their mothers. The association between boys' coerciveness with their mothers and social acceptance by peers appeared to be mediated by the aggressiveness of their interactions with their peers. Because poor peer relations appear to place children at risk for later adjustment problems in adolescence and adulthood (Kupersmidt, Coie, & Dodge, 1990; Parker & Asher, 1987), researchers have made numerous efforts to understand the correlates of peer rejection (Berndt & Ladd, 1989; Coie & Dodge, 1988; Dodge, 1983), and many have demonstrated associations between children's aggressive behavior and rejection by peers (Coie & Kupersmidt, 1983; Dodge, 1983). Although there is evidence that children, especially boys, who engage in coercive interactions with their mothers are more likely to exhibit aggressive, antisocial behavior in other contexts (Elder, Liker, & Cross, 1984), researchers have only recently sought to understand the mechanisms by which children's experiences within the family affect children's behavior and social standing with peers (Dishion, 1990; Parke, 1990; Parke, MacDonald, Beitel, & Bhavnagri, 1988; Pettit, Dodge, & Brown, 1988; Putallaz, 1987; Strassberg, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1992). In part, this reflects a broader tendency to ignore the interdependencies among experiences in different settings, particularly family and