Abstract
This study investigated whether aggressive behavior had any impact on the peer status among kindergarten children aged 2-6 years within a normal population, and to what extent the presumed underlying mechanisms of language, Theory of Mind (ToM), and prosocial skills uniquely contributed to this association. Developmental and gender effects were tested for. Whereas overt aggression was defined as direct physical or verbal acts of disruption, relational aggression referred to more subtle hostility by means of strategically manipulating one’s social network. Previous research has indicated a negative correlation between perceived popularity and overt aggression, and a positive correlation regarding perceived popularity and relational aggression. The present research is a sub-study of the project “The Matter of the First Friendship”. It explored both combined and separate measures from the children (N=559), parents (N=559), and teachers (N=468) within the first (T1) out of four (T4) data collections. The analyses were conducted by means of Pearson’s bivariate correlation analyses and path-analyses built upon multiple regression analyses. Results clarified that the combined informant approach suppressed essential effects within the perceived popularity-aggression model and that separate measures necessarily must be considered. None of the informants reported a direct effect between aggression and peer status, but prosocial skills were shown to have positive indirect effects on both relational aggression and perceived popularity from the children’s perspective, and a negative indirect effect on overt aggression from the adults’ perspectives. Language and ToM were found to contribute little to the perceived popularity-aggression linkage. Interpretations and implications of the findings were discussed.