Relational and overt aggression in urban India

Abstract

This study explored the associations between relational and overt aggression and social status, and tested whether the peer correlates of aggression vary as a function of best friends’ aggression during early adolescence in urban India. One hundred and ninety-four young adolescents from primarily middle-to-upper-class families in Surat, India participated. Analyses revealed unique associations between both forms of aggression and perceived popularity, and between relational aggression and social preference. The consideration of best friend aggression (and in one case, gender) explained some variability in the associations between both forms of aggression and the peer correlates, suggesting that the consideration of best friends’ aggression, particularly in complex and changing non-Western societies such as India, may lead to new insight into why not all aggressive adolescents are disliked and popular.