AUTHOR=Passiatore Ylenia , Grimaldi Capitello Teresa , De Stasio Simona , Millioni Michela , Gentile Simonetta , Fiorilli Caterina 

TITLE=Children’s Mathematics and Verbal Self-concepts and Externalizing Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Peer Rejection at School

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01912

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01912

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Previous research has found a strong correlation between children’s academic self-concept and their behavioral problems. The present study examined whether children’s peer rejection moderated the relationship between children’s math and verbal self-concepts and their behavioral problems at school. We expected that children’s social competence, as measured by peer rejection, moderated the negative effect of low self-concept on children’s externalizing behaviors. Participants were 173 children (males = 93, <italic>M</italic><sub>age</sub> = 10.31 years, <italic>SD</italic> = 1.43). The main findings showed that peer rejection moderated the effect of both low verbal and math self-concepts on children’s externalizing behavior. The results are discussed in terms of the protective factor played by children’s social competence reducing the impact of low self-concept on children’s externalizing behaviors.</p>