Social exclusion, internalizing/externalizing behaviors, and cooperation in middle childhood.

Cooperation is a complex prosocial behavior shaped by social experiences and perceptions of others' cooperativeness. In adults, social exclusion and high levels of internalizing/externalizing (I/E) behaviors can reduce cooperation. However, it is unclear whether these negative impacts are present during middle childhood, a critical stage of social development. This study examined how social exclusion and I/E behaviors affect cooperation in middle childhood to fill this gap in understanding. It was hypothesized that social exclusion would predict decreased cooperation, and that this effect would persist when controlling for I/E behaviors. Twenty-seven children aged 8-12 and their families were recruited online for an online synchronous experimental study. Children were randomly assigned to either a social inclusion (n = 12) or exclusion (n = 15) condition while playing Cyberball (Williams et al., 2000), an online social exclusion manipulation game. After Cyberball, children completed a questionnaire about their current emotional state and played The Coin Game (Corbit et al., 2022), an online public-goods game assessing cooperation. A child's level of I/E behaviors were parent-reported using the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI; Cianchetti et al., 2013), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman et al., 1997). An independent-samples t-test showed that excluded children exhibited significantly lower cooperation levels than included children, t(25) = 2.123, p = .022, d = .24. However, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) examining this relationship while controlling for I/E behaviors revealed no significant main effects of social exclusion (F(1, 23) = 2.391, p = .136, ηp2 = 0.094) or internalizing behaviors (F(1, 23) = 1.360, p = .255, ηp2 = 0.056), while a significant, negative association was found between externalizing behaviors and cooperation (F(1, 23) = 4.776, p = .039, ηp2 = 0.172). Interactions between exclusion status and I/E behaviors were not significant, indicating these behaviors did not significantly alter the relationship between social exclusion and cooperation. A 2x2 Mixed ANCOVA revealed no significant main effects or interactions between opponent type and social exclusion when controlling for I/E behaviors. Overall, this study demonstrates that social exclusion and externalizing behaviors negatively impact cooperation during middle childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)