Nicki R. Crick’s research while affiliated with University of Minnesota and other places

A large number of studies have demonstrated that negative parenting is associated with greater levels of aggression (relational and physical) among school-age children in Western cultures. However, the investigation of this association for children in non-Western cultures is still in its infancy. The present study examines the associations between maternal and paternal parenting behaviours (conflict with the child, physical aggression toward the child and relational aggression toward the child) and forms of aggression, and explores gender differences in these associations among Japanese boys and girls. The participants were 130 fifth and sixth graders (age range: 10 to 12). Children reported maternal and paternal parenting behaviours, and classroom teachers assessed children's relational and physical aggression. Results show that boys and girls had more conflict, more relationally aggressive parenting experiences and more intimate relationships with their mothers than their fathers. Further, after controlling for grade and gender, greater maternal (but not paternal) relational aggression was associated with more peer-oriented relational aggression for boys only and more peer-oriented physical aggression for boys and girls. Greater paternal (but not maternal) conflict was predictive of more peer-oriented physical aggression for boys and girls. The direction and strength of the associations between parenting behaviours and forms of aggression may be contingent upon the gender of the parent and the child. The findings are discussed from cultural, developmental and social perspectives, and implications for future research are discussed. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, Asian Association of Social Psychology and Beijing Normal University

In the past two decades, there has been significant interest among developmental psychopathologists in the study of relational forms of aggression, including gossip, social exclusion, and rumor spreading. This chapter reviews recent advances in research regarding the development of relational aggression in males and females. We focus on conceptual challenges in defining relational aggression, normative and atypical developmental trajectories, and theoretical and empirical work regarding gender differences in such conduct. We also examine potential mechanisms involved in the development of relational aggression, including biobehavioral, cognitive-emotional, and social risk factors. Next, we discuss both positive and negative developmental outcomes associated with involvement in relational aggression. Implications for both cross-cultural research and interventions are discussed. Finally, developmental psychopathology perspectives and directions for future research are highlighted. Keywords: development; relational aggression; gender; interventions; psychopathology; theory; hostile attribution bias; culture

In this chapter, we consider a range of conceptual, methodological, statistical, and substantive issues in the study of sex differences in the development of psychopathology. We begin with a discussion of biological and genetic sex differences that may contribute to different patterns of resilience and vulnerability in females and males. We then provide a descriptive summary review of the principal domains in which girls and boys differ, normatively, in infancy, childhood, and adolescence, as well as differ in the environments they experience. Many of the themes that emerge here resurface in subsequent sections on specific disorders and problems as we discuss biological and environmental processes implicated in rates, trajectories, and outcomes for boys and girls. We consider problems in four areas: (1) pervasive developmental (Autism and childhood Schizophrenia), (2) externalizing (ADHD, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and substance use), (3) internalizing (depression, anxiety, eating), and (4) personality. We highlight what is known about the prevalence, nature, etiology, and theories of each disorder in males and females. Because there is considerable variation on what is known, the sections vary in length and organization. Last, we discuss problems, progress, and future directions for theory and research on sex differences in psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The present investigation examined whether heightened skin conductance reactivity (SCLR) to peer stress strengthened the prospective associations between physical and relational aggression and victimization, and whether associations were stronger for physical forms of aggression and victimization among boys and relational forms of aggression and victimization among girls. A total of 91 children [M age = 10.18 years, standard deviation (SD) = .68] were assessed twice over 1 year. At the first assessment, SCLR in response to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., exclusion; SCLR-R) and an instrumental stressor (e.g., property theft; SCLR-I), and teacher-reported aggression were measured. Parents reported on child victimization at both time points. Among youth with heightened SCLR-I, physical aggression was associated with increases in physical victimization for boys and decreases in physical victimization for girls. Among youth with heightened SCLR-R, relational aggression was associated with increases in physical victimization for girls only. Results were largely consistent with the hypothesis that aggressors with a propensity to exhibit negative displays of emotion, as indexed by heightened sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity to peer stress, may be especially likely to suffer peer victimization. Gender-specific effects highlight the importance of including both physical and relational forms of aggression and victimization to capture victimization risk among aggressive boys and girls.

The present study examined direct and interactive links between friendships and social, academic, and psychological adjustment problems (i.e., peer rejection as nominated by same-ethnic and cross-ethnic peers, teacher-reported academic engagement, and teacher-reported internalizing symptoms) among school-age children in multiethnic schools (n = 509, age: 9–10). The data, which included 2 time points with a 6-month interval, were drawn from a relatively large-sized, short-term longitudinal study. Results showed that cross-ethnic friendships (not same-ethnic friendships) were associated with greater academic engagement concurrently and predated decreased peer rejection and internalizing symptoms longitudinally, even after controlling for the availability of same-ethnic peers and classroom diversity. Furthermore, cross-ethnic friendships (not same-ethnic friendships) moderated the link between relational victimization and increased peer rejection and greater internalizing symptoms, such that this link was evidenced for children with fewer cross-ethnic friendships. However, the moderation effect was contingent upon the type of outcome variables and the ethnicity of the child. For example, the buffering effect against the negative contribution of relational victimization to internalizing symptoms was found particularly for African American children. The findings are discussed based on theories of normative development, ethnic socialization, and intergroup relations.

Although there is considerable evidence that relational victimization is associated with depressive symptoms in youth, our understanding about the mechanisms by which victimization and depressive symptoms are linked is limited. The current study explored ruminating about victimization experiences as a potential mechanism that might contribute to an understanding of the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. We also tested the specificity of the proposed models by controlling for and testing parallel models of a highly related behavior: relational aggression. A sample of 499 adolescents from sixth through eighth grades participated. Teacher reports were used to assess relational victimization and relational aggression. Self-reports were used to assess depressive symptoms and rumination. The results showed that rumination partially mediated the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. No moderation effect was found. In contrast, rumination moderated the association between relational aggression and depressive symptoms. Specifically, relational aggression was associated with depressive symptoms for those adolescents who were also ruminators. Thus, ruminating about victimization experiences appears to be an important mechanism that functions differently for relational aggression and relational victimization in conferring risk for depressive symptoms. The findings offer important practical implications for those working with adolescents and also lay the groundwork for future research.

In this investigation, gene-environment-gender interaction effects in predicting child borderline personality disorder symptomatology among maltreated and nonmaltreated low-income children (N = 1,051) were examined. In the context of a summer research camp, adult-, peer-, and self-report assessments of borderline precursor indicators were obtained, as well as child self-report on the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children. Genetic variants of the oxytocin receptor genotype and the FK506 binding protein 5 gene CATT haplotype were investigated. Children who self-reported high levels of borderline personality symptomatology were differentiated by adults, peers, and additional self-report on indicators of emotional instability, conflictual relationships with peers and adults, preoccupied attachment, and indicators of self-harm and suicidal ideation. Maltreated children also were more likely to evince many of these difficulties relative to nonmaltreated children. A series of analyses of covariance, controlling for age and ancestrally informative markers, indicated significant Maltreatment × Gene × Gender three-way interactions. Consideration of the maltreatment parameters of subtype, onset, and recency expanded understanding of variation among maltreated children. The three-way interaction effects demonstrated differential patterns among girls and boys. Among girls, the gene-environment interaction was more consistent with a diathesis-stress model, whereas among boys a differential-sensitivity interaction effect was indicated. Moreover, the genetic variants associated with greater risk for higher borderline symptomatology, dependent on maltreatment experiences, were opposite in girls compared to boys. The findings have important implications for understanding variability in early predictors of borderline personality pathology.

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the association between physiological reactivity to peer stressors and physical and relational aggression. Potential moderation by actual experiences of peer maltreatment (i.e., physical and relational victimization) and gender were also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol during which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships) and an instrumental stressor (e.g., threats to physical well-being, dominance, or property) were assessed. Teachers provided reports of aggression and victimization. In both boys and girls, physical aggression was associated with blunted physiological reactivity to relational stress and heightened physiological reactivity to instrumental stress, particularly among youth higher in victimization. In girls, relational aggression was most robustly associated with blunted physiological reactivity to relational stressors, particularly among girls exhibiting higher levels of relational victimization. In boys, relational aggression was associated with heightened physiological reactivity to both types of stressors at higher levels of peer victimization and blunted physiological reactivity to both types of stressors at lower levels of victimization. Results underscore the shared and distinct emotional processes underlying physical and relational aggression in boys and girls.

Child maltreatment has been established as a risk factor for borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet few studies consider how maltreatment influences the development of BPD features through childhood and adolescence. Subtype, developmental timing, and chronicity of child maltreatment were examined as factors in the development of borderline personality features in childhood. Children (M age = 11.30, SD = 0.94), including 314 maltreated and 285 nonmaltreated children from comparable low socioeconomic backgrounds, provided self-reports of developmentally salient borderline personality traits. Maltreated children had higher overall borderline feature scores, had higher scores on each individual subscale, and were more likely to be identified as at high risk for development of BPD through raised scores on all four subscales. Chronicity of maltreatment predicted higher overall borderline feature scores, and patterns of onset and recency of maltreatment significantly predicted whether a participant would meet criteria for the high-risk group. Implications of findings and recommendations for intervention are discussed.