Do perceived popular adolescents who aggress against others experience emotional adjustment problems themselves?

Aggression is associated with a host of behavioral, social, and emotional adjustment difficulties. However, some aggressive youth are perceived as "popular" by peers. Although these perceived popular aggressive youth appear relatively well adjusted, especially in the social domain, the emotional well-being of these youth is understudied. The current findings indicate that perceived popularity buffers adolescents who hurt others through relational aggression from internalizing symptoms. In contrast, perceived popularity did not buffer adolescents who engaged in overt verbal and physical aggression from internalizing symptoms. The results suggest that relationally aggressive perceived popular adolescents may be especially resistant to intervention if their aggression helps them manipulate their social worlds but does not contribute to internalizing symptoms.