(PS3-73) Reactive Aggression as a Predictor of Peer Relationship Quality: The Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies

Children who are reactively aggressive often experience challenging peer relationships (Rubin et al., 201l), including peer rejection and peer victimization (Coie et al., 1992; Evans et al., 2015; Fite et al., 2013; McClain, 2022; Perren et al., 2006). Difficulty regulating emotion is one factor that explains why some children respond with aggression to benign or ambiguous situations that they interpret as hostile or threatening (Hubbard et al., 2001; Perren et al., 2006). Over time, peers view these children as unpredictable and threatening, interfering with their development and maintenance of positive peer relationships (Rubin et al., 201l). Cognitive reappraisal (CR) and emotional suppression (ES) are two well-researched emotion regulation strategies. Researchers often find that the use of CR is negatively associated with reactive aggression (RA), whereas ES is positively associated with RA (Gutiérrez-Cobo, 2023; Kokkinos, 2019). Although the association between RA and peer relationship difficulties is well established, few studies have examined whether the strength of this relation depends on the strategies that children use to regulate emotion. This study examines whether the association between RA and peer relationship quality (PRQ) is moderated by ES and CR within and across time.

Methods: Participants were 3rd and 4th-grade children (n=196) participating in a larger project examining correlates of emotion regulation (Watson, 2024). Children completed a modified version of the Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, ERQ-CA, and PROMIS-Peer Relationships in the spring and fall of 2022 (Watson, 2024). Data Analysis and

Results: A CFA model was estimated first to examine the concurrent relations among RA, ES, CR, and PRQ at time 1 and to establish a good-fitting model prior to the estimation of our SEM model. This CFA model fits the data well. An SEM model was then estimated to examine whether ES and CR moderated the association between RA and PRQ. This analysis revealed that RA (b = -.255, p = .011) and ES (b = -.246, p = .025) were negatively associated with PRQ; however, neither emotion regulation strategy moderated the association between RA and PRQ. Our next goal was to examine whether the prospective relation between RA and PRQ was moderated by ES or CR. In the context of a longitudinal CFA model, we established good model fit and measurement invariance of PRQ over time. We next estimated a longitudinal SEM model. We found evidence of stability in PRQ over time, b = .458, p < .001. We also found that CR emerged as a positive predictor of PRQ at time 2, b = .189, p = .017, indicating that students endorsing CR as an emotion regulation strategy experienced improved peer relationships over time.  We found no evidence that ES or CR moderated the prospective association between RA and PRQ.

Conclusion: The present study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that specific emotion regulation strategies are differentially associated with PRQ within and across time. However, we found no evidence that emotional suppression and cognitive reappraisal modulated the relation between RA and PRQ within or across time.