A test of the bistrategic control hypothesis of adolescent popularity
Abstract
Abstract Resource Control Theory (Hawley, 1999) posits a group of bistrategic popular youth who attain status through coercive strategies while mitigating fallout via prosociality. This study identifies and distinguishes this bistrategic popular group from other popularity types, tracing the adjustment correlates of each. Adolescent participants (288 girls, 280 boys; Mage = 12.50 years) completed peer nominations in the Fall and Spring of the seventh and eighth grades. Longitudinal latent profile analyses classified adolescents into groups based on physical and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and popularity. Distinct bistrategic, aggressive, and prosocial popularity types emerged. Bistrategic popular adolescents had the highest popularity and above average aggression and prosocial behavior; they were viewed by peers as disruptive and angry but were otherwise well-adjusted.
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Adolescents in the "bistrategic" profile reported similar levels of all forms of aggression.
“Adolescents in the “bistrategic” profile reported similar levels of all forms of aggression, alike previous findings by Hartl et al. ( 2019 ), meaning that indirect aggression does not particularly coadunate with prosociality and its associated social gains.”
From A latent profile analysis of aggression and prosocial behavior in relation to adolescent wellbeing (2025) · cites this paper as Hartl et al., 2019
Contrary to previous peer-nomination studies, no evidence for mainly aggressive or mainly prosocial groups was found.
“Contrary to previous works that looked for profiles using peer-nomination to collect data (e.g., Berger et al., 2015 ; Hartl et al., 2019 ; McDonald et al., 2015 ), no evidence for mainly aggressive 1 or mainly prosocial groups was found.”
From A latent profile analysis of aggression and prosocial behavior in relation to adolescent wellbeing (2025) · cites this paper as Hartl et al., 2019
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Kiuru, N., Salmela-Aro, K., Laursen, B., Vasalampi, K., Beattie, M., Tunkkari, M., & Junttila, N. (2025) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-024-01664-8 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationA latent profile analysis of aggression and prosocial behavior in relation to adolescent wellbeing
Carvalhais, L., & Vagos, P. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1545055 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…have similar outcomes to prosocial ones, namely concerning peer acceptance (Ettekal and Mohammadi, 2020; Hartl et al., 2019), high popularity (Hartl et al., 2019; Reijntjes et al., 2018), and individual and social status within the peer group (Wurster and Xie, 2014), even if being and…”
Influential
- Authors
- Hartl, A. C., Laursen, B., Cantin, S., & Vitaro, F.
- Affiliations
- Florida Atlantic University (US)
- Université de Montréal (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Hartl, Amy C
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-05-01
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e635-e648
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2953489771
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 8.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (410-2008-2588)
- US National Science Foundation (0909733, 1620294, 1248598)
- National Science Foundation (0909733, 1620294, 1248598)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- physical aggression, relational aggression, prosocial behavior, peer nominations, peer status, peer adjustment
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Aggression, Child, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Peer Group, Social Behavior, Social Desirability
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