Preschool Aggression and Victimization: A Short-Term Longitudinal Analysis of the Immediate Social Environment

Figures & data

Figure 1 Flow diagram of recruitment and selection of schools and participants.

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of Demographic Variables, Peer-Nominated Aggressive Behaviours, and Control Variables

Variable	n/M	%/SD
Demographic variables
Children’s Sex
Girls	184	46.7%
Boys	210	53.3%
Children’s Age	4.53	0.91
Family Socioeconomic Advantage	13.93	4.40
Peer-Nominated Aggressive Behaviours
General Aggressor Role T1	61	15.5%
General Aggressor Role T2	74	18.8%
Physical Aggressor Role T1	47	11.9%
Physical Aggressor Role T2	63	16.0%
Verbal Aggressor Role T1	48	12.2%
Verbal Aggressor Role T2	51	12.9%
Relational Aggressor Role T1	63	16.0%
Relational Aggressor Role T2	64	16.2%
Relational Indirect Aggressor Role T1	40	10.2%
Relational Indirect Aggressor Role T2	66	16.8%
General Victim Role T1	58	14.7%
General Victim Role T2	72	18.3%
Physical Victim Role T1	51	12.9%
Physical Victim Role T2	63	16.0%
Relational Victim Role T1	51	12.9%
Relational Victim Role T2	73	18.5%
Relational Indirect Victim Role T1	40	10.2%
Relational Indirect Victim Role T2	37	9.4%
Control Variables
Most-Like Peer Nominations	0.022	0.93
Least-Like Peer Nominations	0.032	0.91
Emotional Regulation	3.44	0.35
Emotional Lability	1.91	0.35
Teacher-Child Closeness	4.38	0.59

Abbreviations: n, number of participants; M, Mean; SD, Standard Deviation.

Table 2 Overview of Used Variables with Regard to the Social Environment

Variable (Construct)	Response Rate	M	SD
Sense Of Community (Community Cohesion)	1–5	3.63	0.64
Satisfaction With the Neighbourhood (Community Cohesion)	1–5	3.95	0.88
Relationships Between Neighbours (Community Cohesion)	1–5	3.54	0.72
Mother/Women Caregiver Mental Health	0–3	1.98	0.52
Father/Men Caregiver Mental Health	0–3	2.05	0.45
Mother/Women Caregiver Affection and Communication (Parental Socialization)	1–5	4.46	0.44
Father/Men Caregiver Affection and Communication (Parental Socialization)	1–5	4.42	0.50
Mother/Women Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values (Parental Socialization)	1–5	4.76	0.32
Father/Men Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values (Parental Socialization)	1–5	4.69	0.37
Mother/Women Caregiver Baby Rewards (Parental Role Stress)	1–5	1.24	0.40
Father/Men Caregiver Baby Rewards (Parental Role Stress)	1–5	1.29	0.42
Mother/Women Caregiver Parental Stress (Parental Role Stress)	1–5	2.41	0.80
Father/Men Caregiver Parental Stress (Parental Role Stress)	1–5	2.28	0.79
Mother/Women Caregiver Conflict Frequency (Interparental Conflict)	1–4	1.68	0.65
Father/Men Caregiver Conflict Frequency (Interparental Conflict)	1–4	1.63	0.62
Mother/Women Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict Interparental Conflict)	1–4	3.52	0.63
Father/Men Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict (Interparental Conflict)	1–4	3.37	0.65
Mother/Women Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict (Interparental Conflict)	1–4	1.87	0.82
Father/Men Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict (Interparental Conflict)	1–4	1.63	0.73
Mother/Women Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes (Parental Endorsement of Violence)	1–5	1.86	0.60
Father/Men Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes (Parental Endorsement of Violence)	1–5	2.20	0.76

Table 3 Communalities

	Initial	Extraction
Mother/Women Caregiver Mental Health	0.277	0.221
Father/Men Caregiver Mental Health	0.422	0.443
Mother/Women Caregiver Affection and Communication	0.737	0.872
Father/Men Caregiver Affection and Communication	0.746	0.803
Mother/Women Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values	0.588	0.642
Father/Men Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values	0.616	0.683
Mother/Women Caregiver Conflict Frequency	0.604	0.744
Father/Men Caregiver Conflict Frequency	0.563	0.568
Mother/Women Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict	0.338	0.323
Father/Men Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict	0.317	0.357
Mother/Women Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict	0.370	0.366
Father/Men Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict	0.424	0.873
Mother/Women Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes	0.319	0.619
Father/Men Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes	0.292	0.347
Sense of Community	0.686	0.993
Relationships between Neighbours	0.643	0.625
Satisfaction with the Neighbourhood	0.099	0.061
Mother/Women Caregiver Baby Rewards	0.342	0.333
Father/Men Caregiver Baby Rewards	0.401	0.418
Mother/Women Caregiver Parental Stress	0.478	0.696
Father/Men Caregiver Parental Stress	0.454	0.460

Note: Extraction method: Principal Axis Factorization.

Table 4 Total Variance Explained

Factor	Initial Eigenvalues			Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings			Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total
1	5.782	28.908	28.908	5.362	26.809	26.809	3.100
2	1.809	9.046	37.954	1.523	7.616	34.425	2.173
3	1.727	8.635	46.589	1.256	6.282	40.708	3.666
4	1.571	7.855	54.444	1.145	5.723	46.431	1.048
5	1.330	6.651	61.095	0.838	4.192	50.623	2.264
6	1.078	5.392	66.487	0.562	2.812	53.435	3.031
7	0.867	4.336	70.823
8	0.836	4.178	75.001
9	0.687	3.433	78.434
10	0.669	3.343	81.777
11	0.612	3.062	84.839
12	0.533	2.666	87.505
13	0.481	2.407	89.911
14	0.422	2.112	92.023
15	0.396	1.978	94.001
16	0.318	1.588	95.589
17	0.315	1.577	97.166
18	0.220	1.101	98.266
19	0.195	0.975	99.241
20	0.152	0.759	100.000

Note: Extraction method: Principal Axis Factorization.

Table 5 Rotated Component Matrix

	Structure Matrix						Pattern Matrix
	Factor						Factor
	1	2	3	4	5	6	1	2	3	4	5	6
Mother/Women Caregiver Affection and Communication	0.913					0.433	0.838
Mother/Women Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values	0.749						0.714
Mother/Women Caregiver Baby Rewards	−0.492						0.417
Mother/Women Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict	0.482						−0.408
Sense of Community		0.889						0.916
Relationships between Neighbours		0.884						0.892
Father/Men Caregiver Affection and Communication			0.873			0.513			0.804
Father/Men Caregiver Transmission of Prosocial Values			0.789						0.766
Father/Men Caregiver Baby Rewards			−0.63						−0.605
Father/Men Caregiver Positive Response to Conflict			0.55						0.517
Father/Men Caregiver Mental Health			0.532						0.418
Mother/Women Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes				0.633						0.621
Father/Men Caregiver Pro-Violence Attitudes				0.617						0.592
Mother/Women Caregiver Parental Stress					0.786						0.756
Father/Men Caregiver Parental Stress			−0.423		0.612						0.544
Mother/Women Caregiver Conflict Frequency			−0.548			−0.675						−0.641
Father/Men Caregiver Conflict Frequency	−0.588					−0.674						−0.564
Mother/Women Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict						−0.673						−0.516
Father/Men Caregiver Negative Response to Conflict						−0.582						−0.509

Notes: Extraction method: Principal Axis Factorization. Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization.

Table 6 Logistic Regression Analysis of the Relationship Between Social Environment and Preschool Children’s Aggressor Role (n = 394)

Study variables		B	SE	Wald	Sig.	Exp(B)	95% C.I. for EXP (B)		AUC (IC95%)	Hosmer y Lemeshow
							Lower	Upper
General Aggressor Role	Children’s Sex	0.770	0.331	5.419	0.020	2.160	1.129	4.131	0.694 (0.623–0.766)	χ² = 2.148, p = 0.976
	Least-Like nominations	0.566	0.188	9.085	0.003	1.760	1.219	2.543
	Emotional lability	0.971	0.420	5.343	0.021	2.640	1.159	6.015
	Aggressor Role T1	1.860	0.398	21.834	0.000	6.423	2.944	14.013
	Constant	−3.513	0.614	32.719	0.000	0.003
Physical Aggressor	Children’s Sex	1.293	0.407	10.076	0.002	3.642	1.640	8.901	0.642 (0.563–0.721)	χ² = 6.032, p = 0.644
	Least-Like nominations	0.554	0.157	12.429	0.000	1.740	1.279	2.367
	Emotional lability	1.268	0.463	7.482	0.006	3.552	1.432	8.810
	Constant	−6.542	1.181	30.712	0.000	0.001
Verbal Aggressor	Children’s Sex	1.308	0.488	7.180	0.007	3.697	1.421	9.623	0.698 (0.613–0.786)	χ² = 3.085, p = 0.929
	Least-Like nominations	0.671	0.206	10.553	0.001	1.955	1.305	2.931
	Verbal Aggressor Rol T1	1.563	0.520	9.021	0.003	4.774	1.721	13.241
	Child-related parental stress	0.699	0.324	4.652	0.031	0.497	0.263	0.938
	Positive interparental interaction	−0.780	0.316	6.074	0.014	0.458	0.247	0.852
	Constant	−7.406	1.460	25.745	0.000	0.001
Relational Aggressor	Most-Like nominations	0.413	0.163	6.453	0.011	1.511	1.099	2.079	0.674 (0.596–0.751)	χ² = 4.251, p = 0.834
	Emotional lability	1.192	0.442	7.274	0.007	3.294	1.385	7.834
	Relational Aggressor Rol T1	1.135	1.154	7.990	0.002	3.111	1.522	6.359
	Constant	−3.262	1.154	7.990	0.005	0.038
Indirect Relational Aggressor	Most-Like nominations	0.318	0.162	3.864	0.049	1.375	1.001	1.889	0.641 (0.566–0.717)	χ² = 3.083, p= 0.929
	Emotional lability	1.167	0.430	7.378	0.007	3.214	1.384	7.462
	Indirect Relational Aggressor Rol T1	0.967	0.421	5.275	0.022	2.630	1.152	6.001
	Constant	−4.121	0.890	21.441	0.000	0.016

Table 7 Logistic Regression Analysis of the Relationship Between Social Environment and Preschool Children’s Victim Role (n = 394)

Study variables		B	SE	Wald	Sig.	Exp(B)	95% C.I. for EXP (B)		AUC (IC95%)	Hosmer y Lemeshow
							Lower	Upper
General Victim Role	Victim role T1	1.526	0.356	18.320	0.000	1.939	1.352	2.780	0.654 (0.574–0.734)	χ² = 10.026, p = 0.2263
	Community cohesion	0.614	0.175	12.361	0.000	1.848	1.312	2.602
	Positive interparental interaction	−0.346	0.169	4.174	0.041	0.707	0.508	0.986
	Constant	−1.751	0.163	115.599	0.000	0.174
Physical Victim	Physical victim role T1	1.233	0.403	9.362	0.002	3.429	1.557	7.549	0.688 (0.609–0.766)	χ² = 6.529, p = 0.588
	Women caregiver positive parenting practices	0.426	0.215	3.932	0.047	1.531	1.005	2.334
	Community cohesion	0.445	0.182	5.947	0.015	1.560	1.091	2.231
	Constant	−1.946	0.179	118.408	0.000	0.143
Verbal Victim	Children’s sex	0.743	0.314	5.602	0.018	2.102	1.136	3.889	0.683 (0.609–0.757)	χ² = 6.170, p = 0.628
	Verbal victim role T1	0.994	0.370	7.213	0.007	2.703	1.308	5.584
	Constant	−2.985	0.883	11.437	0.001	0.051
Relational Victim	Men caregiver positive parenting practices	0.368	0.179	4.232	0.040	1.445	1.018	2.053	0.574 (0.497–0.650)	χ² = 11.395, p = 0.180
	Constant	−1.604	0.149	115.282	0.000	0.201
Indirect Relational Victim	Community cohesion	0.536	0.230	5.430	0.020	1.709	1.089	2.682	0.664 (0.559–0.770)	χ² = 3.468, p = 0.902
	Positive interparental interaction	−0.553	0.216	6.547	0.011	0.575	0.377	0.879
	Constant	−2.568	0.227	128.220	0.000	0.077

Figure 2 Probability of being nominated as a victim according to the score on the Community Cohesion factor.