Finding new friends or falling back on familiar faces: the peer affiliations of aggressive students during the transition to middle school

This study investigated the school-based peer affiliations of youth during the transition to middle school. One-hundred seventy one participants were followed over the first three semesters of middle school to examine students' affiliation patterns with previously familiar peers who attended the same elementary school. A series of univariate and repeated measures ANOVAs were used to detect changes in peer affiliations. Overall, students were more likely to affiliate with a greater proportion of previously familiar peers when they arrived at middle school, but there was a linear decline in the proportion of familiar peers within peer groups over time. Boys showed little change in affiliations with familiar peers, while girls showed a steady decline in the proportion of familiar peers within their peer groups. Students rated as physically aggressive by teachers and peers did not affiliate with a significantly different proportion of familiar peers than non-aggressive students at all time points. However, students rated as socially aggressive by peers, but not teachers, affiliated with a greater proportion of familiar peers than non-aggressive students during the first two semesters of middle school