ERIC Number: EJ1165248
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jan
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Codevelopment of Sympathy and Overt Aggression from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence
Zuffianò, Antonio; Colasante, Tyler; Buchmann, Marlis; Malti, Tina
Developmental Psychology, v54 n1 p98-110 Jan 2018
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 sympathy and overt aggression over time, although the decline in sympathy was relatively small. Importantly, both trajectories were characterized by significant interindividual variability. A bivariate second-order latent curve model revealed a small-moderate negative correlation between the latent slopes of sympathy and overt aggression, suggesting an inverse codevelopmental relationship between the constructs from middle childhood to early adolescence. In terms of predictive effects, an autoregressive cross-lagged model indicated a lack of bidirectional relations between sympathy and overt aggression, underscoring the primacy of the variables' rank-order stability. We discuss the codevelopment and developmental relations of sympathy and aggression, their potential conjoint social-emotional mechanisms, and the practical implications thereof.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Empathy, Aggression, Psychological Patterns, Child Development, Adolescent Development, Children, Early Adolescents, Correlation, Predictor Variables, Social Development, Emotional Development, Surveys, Cohort Analysis, Socialization, Structural Equation Models, Behavior Problems, Child Behavior, Questionnaires, Screening Tests, Interviews, Statistical Analysis, Maximum Likelihood Statistics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Switzerland
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
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Author Affiliations: N/A