(PS6-5) Coping Styles and Reactive Aggression in School-age Children: The Moderating Role of Peer Relationship Quality

Abstract Text: Reactive aggression (RA), or aggressive retaliation prompted by an interpretation of hostile intent, is related to a variety of psycho-social and behavioral difficulties in childhood, including peer victimization, internalizing distress, and engagement in risky behavior (Dodge & Coie, 1987; Salmivalli & Nieminen, 2002; Connor et al., 2010; Fite et al., 2014; Fit & Colder, 2007). Children who engage in maladaptive methods of coping in response to a stressor are more likely to engage in RA whereas those who engage in adaptive coping are less likely to respond with RA (Boxmeyer et al., 2021; Gardner et al., 2012). Given the interpersonal nature of RA, children’s social functioning within the peer group may influence the extent to which methods of coping with stress are associated with reactive aggression. For example, children seeking social support in response to the experience of a social stressor may be less likely to engage in reactive aggression, but only when they have peer relations of higher quality. The current study examined whether (1) styles of coping are associated with RA and (2) the association between coping and RA varies as a function of a child’s peer relationship quality.  
Two hundred and sixty-one third and fourth graders (Mage = 9.53; 54.6% Female; 68.8% White) completed self-report measures on reactive aggression, coping styles, and peer relationship quality. Methods of coping included social support, self-reliance/problem-solving, distancing, internalizing, and externalizing (Causey & Dubow, 1992). Research questions were addressed through the estimation of structural equation models in Mplus version 8.0 using ML estimation. Missing data was addressed using full information maximum likelihood.
Distancing, internalizing, and externalizing coping were positively associated with RA whereas social support was negatively associated with RA. Self-reliance/problem-solving, a coping style relying on more internal processes, was not significantly associated with RA. Peer relationship quality moderated the association between self-reliance and RA. Simple slopes analysis revealed that self-reliance coping was negatively associated with RA for children at high (b = -.366, p < .01) and average (b = -.177, p = .017) levels of peer relationship quality but not for children at low (b = .011, p = .89) levels of peer relationship quality. Additionally, peer relationship quality moderated the association between social support and RA. Social support was marginally and negatively associated with RA for children at high (b = -.174, p = .066) but not low (b = .142, p = .084) levels of peer functioning.

Results emphasize the impact of coping styles on reducing or contributing to the development of reaction aggression in school-aged children. Results further provide some support for the notion that adaptive coping styles may only be effective when employed by interpersonally successful children. Coping styles, specifically those that involve internal processes, are not sufficient to reduce rates of reactive aggression without external support. The above findings emphasize potential innovations in CBT, such as employing mechanisms of CBT in social settings via youth mentoring and other interpersonally targeted interventions.