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Peer Exclusion During the Pubertal Transition: The Role of Social Competence

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

For some youth, early puberty is accompanied by peer exclusion. Yet early developers may experience less peer exclusion if they have social competence, which would bolster their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with their peers. Accordingly, the present study tests whether pubertal timing and tempo predicts decrements in children’s social competence and whether decrements in social competence account for associations between puberty (timing and tempo) and peer exclusion over time. Longitudinal data were drawn from 1364 families (48% female; 76% White; M = 9.32 years, SD = .48, at Wave 3) who participated in Waves 3–5 (i.e., grades 4–6) of Phase III of the NICHD-SECCYD. The results from latent growth curve models indicated that earlier pubertal timing and more rapid pubertal tempo among girls were associated with high initial levels of peer exclusion. Moreover, mediation analyses revealed that early developers’ susceptibility to peer exclusion was associated with their initial level of social competence. In boys, pubertal timing and tempo were not directly associated with peer exclusion; instead, indirect effects of pubertal timing on peer exclusion (intercept, slope) occurred through initial levels of social competence. On average, early developers’ who had low levels of social competence also had high initial levels of peer exclusion but experienced decrements in peer exclusion over time. The association between the intercepts for puberty and peer exclusion and the slopes for social competence and peer exclusion were stronger for boys than girls. Overall, our findings suggest that early developers’ susceptibility to and experiences of peer exclusion are associated with their development of social competence.

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Authors’ Contributions

R.C. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; A.H. participated in the interpretation of the data and helped to draft the manuscript. S.L.T. participated in the interpretation of the data and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street; 2243 East Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Rona Carter

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street; 2221 East Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Amira Halawah

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street; 2326 East Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Sarah L. Trinh

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  1. Rona Carter
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  2. Amira Halawah
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Correspondence to Rona Carter.

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Secondary data analyses were conducted with IRB approval.

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All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the APA Ethical Standards in the treatment of the participants

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Carter, R., Halawah, A. & Trinh, S.L. Peer Exclusion During the Pubertal Transition: The Role of Social Competence. J Youth Adolescence 47, 121–134 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0682-8

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