This study examined the course and correlates of the happy victimizer tendency--the expectation that harming others to achieve a goal will result in positive emotional outcomes for the transgressor--from 4 to 6 years of age in a community sample of Canadian children (N = 150; 50% female; Time 1 M[subscript age] = 4.53 years, SD = 0.30; 33%…

This study utilized latent profile analyses to identify unique configurations of children's family-based social experiences during the first 3 years of life and examine differences across profiles with respect to developmental outcomes at 36 and 48 months of age. Seven family process variables were used: maternal emotional functioning, maternal…

Victimization during school years can have detrimental effects on individuals' adjustment, lasting even into adulthood. In the current study, we examine whether there is an indirect effect of victimization on adult depression and aggression, via sad and angry rumination about past victimization. Participants included 1,319 Finnish individuals…

Firearm injury is a significant public health concern among youth living in the United States. Youth with exposure to violence (ETV) are more susceptible to carrying and using a firearm. Few researchers, however, have examined psychological mechanisms undergirding the association between ETV and firearm aggression. Retaliatory attitudes have been…

Previous studies often assumed that parenting practices are similar across families. This assumption is difficult to hold, especially throughout adolescence, a period of major change for both adolescents and their parents. By combining a person-centered and a variable-centered approach, the present study adds to the literature by identifying…

Drawing on the framework of social domain theory, this multi-method, multi-informant longitudinal study examined whether callous-unemotional (CU) tendencies moderated the association between U.S. 4 to 7 year olds' (n = 135; M[subscript age] = 5.65, 50% male; 75% White) ability to differentiate hypothetical, prototypical moral and conventional…

We assessed the extent to which feelings of sympathy and aggressive behaviors codeveloped from 6 to 12 years of age in a representative sample of Swiss children (N = 1,273). Caregivers and teachers reported children's sympathy and overt aggression in 3-year intervals. Second-order latent curve models indicated general mean-level declines in…

Identity formation is one of the key developmental tasks in adolescence. According to Erikson (1968) experiencing identity uncertainty is normative in adolescence. However, empirical studies investigating identity uncertainty on a daily basis are lacking. Hence, studying individual differences in daily certainty (i.e., identity commitment levels)…

This study examines the role of moral disengagement in fostering engagement in aggression and violence through adolescence to young adulthood in accordance with a design in which the study of individual differences and of their relations is instrumental to address underlying intraindividual structures and process conducive to detrimental conduct.…

This research examined whether following social and physical aggression trajectories across Grades 3-12 predicted psychological maladjustment. Teachers rated participants' (n = 287, 138 boys) aggressive behavior at the end of each school year. Following the 12th grade, psychosocial outcomes were measured: rule-breaking behaviors, internalizing…

We investigated longitudinal relations between children's sleep and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger/aggression. We expected that initial sleep problems and increases in these problems over time would be associated with worse adjustment outcomes. The study had 3 waves with 1-year lags. At Time 1 [T1], 128 girls and 123 boys (M age =…

In this short-term longitudinal study, we systematically examined the distinctiveness of guilt- and shame-proneness in early adolescents (N = 395, mean age = 11.8 years) in terms of differential relations with peer reported prosocial behavior, withdrawal, and aggression. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that guilt-proneness…

This study examined loneliness and its associations with social functioning in children across different historical times and contexts in China. We collected data from urban and rural groups of school-age children (N = 2,588; M age = 10 years) using self-reports and peer assessments. The results indicated that children in 2002 and 2005 urban…

Youth aggression has been associated with negative parenting practices, but previous research about this association has mainly focused on physical and verbal aggression. Because more subtle forms of aggression are considered at least as harmful as their physical and verbal counterparts, there is a growing scientific interest in parenting…

This prospective longitudinal study provides evidence of preschool-age precursors of hostile attribution bias in young school-age children, a topic that has received little empirical attention. We examined multiple risk domains, including laboratory and observational assessments of children's social-cognition, general cognitive functioning,…