学前儿童在园攻击性行为的观察研究

采用行为取样的方法,对242名小班、中班和大班幼儿在幼儿园中的攻击性行为进行为期10天的现场观察,共获得有效行为样本339件.数据统计分析结果显示:(1)中班和大班幼儿攻击同性别同伴的次数显着多于攻击异性同伴;(2)引起儿童攻击性行为的各种起因的次数分布存在极显着的差异,但各种起因的次数在三个年龄组和不同性别上的分布不存在显着差异;(3)小班幼儿的工具性攻击行为多于敌意性攻击行为,大班儿童的敌意性攻击多于工具性攻击.     

父母心理控制与ODD症状儿童抑郁、攻击行为的关系

以北京市、山东省和云南省14所小学中的340名有对立违抗障碍(Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ODD)症状的儿童及其158名班主任为被试, 收集了儿童自己填写的父母心理控制、自尊、抑郁量表, 班主任评估的儿童攻击行为量表, 用以考察父亲与母亲心理控制对ODD症状儿童抑郁、攻击行为的不同影响, 以及自尊在其中的中介作用和儿童性别的调节作用。结果发现:(1)与有ODD症状的女孩相比, 具有ODD症状的男孩人数更多, 抑郁、攻击行为问题更为严重, 自尊也更差;(2)父亲对男孩的心理控制显著多于女孩, 而母亲对男孩、女孩的心理控制没有显著差异;(3)父亲和母亲心理控制与ODD症状儿童的抑郁、攻击行为都呈显著正相关且父亲心理控制能显著预测儿童的抑郁和攻击行为, 而母亲心理控制能显著的预测攻击行为;(4)自尊在父亲心理控制与ODD症状儿童的抑郁、母亲心理控制与儿童的攻击行为之间均起部分中介作用, 在父亲心理控制与儿童的攻击行为、母亲心理控制与儿童的抑郁之间均起完全中介作用。     

学前儿童关于攻击和亲社会行为的性别差异信念

使用内隐、比较外显和独立外显三种方法考察学前儿童关于攻击和亲社会行为的性别差异信念及其发展特点。结果表明:①3岁儿童倾向于把身体攻击与男孩相联系、把亲社会行为与女孩相联系,且儿童的这些信念随年龄增长而逐渐增强;3岁和4岁儿童并不把关系攻击与某一性别相联系,5岁儿童倾向于把关系攻击与男孩相联系;②三种测量结果之间具有一定的一致性,但内隐测量更易于探查到年幼儿童关于亲社会行为的性别差异信念。     

儿童攻击行为与"心理理论"关系的研究

本研究采用自然观察法评定177名3—4岁儿童的攻击行为。以攻击行为平均分为指标从被观察儿童中选取93名为被试．采用“意外转移”和“欺骗外表”两种实验任务,比较各类攻击儿童的心理理论。本研究得出主要结论：总体而言．攻击儿童与无攻击儿童的心理理论不存在显著差异。间接攻击儿童的心理理论显著高于身体攻击儿童。各类儿童的表征变化不存在显著差异。研究结果支持了我们提出的攻击行为“类型特殊性”假说。     

父母心理控制与对立违抗障碍儿童抑郁和攻击行为的关系:父子依恋和母子依恋的中介效应

采用父母心理控制、亲子依恋、抑郁量表对从北京市、山东省和云南省14所小学筛选出来的246名对立违抗障碍(Oppositional Defiant Disorder,ODD)儿童进行施测,并由被试的班主任填写儿童攻击行为量表,考察父、母心理控制对ODD儿童抑郁和攻击行为的影响,以及父子依恋和母子依恋在其中的中介作用。结果发现:(1)ODD儿童中男生人数更多,且男孩的抑郁和攻击行为更严重;(2)父亲对男孩的心理控制更强,而母亲在对男孩和女孩的心理控制上没有显著差异;(3)父、母心理控制与ODD儿童的父子依恋、母子依恋和抑郁均呈显著相关,但只有父亲心理控制与ODD儿童的攻击行为显著相关;(4)父子依恋在父母心理控制和ODD儿童抑郁之间没有起到显著的中介作用,母子依恋在母亲心理控制和ODD儿童抑郁之间有显著的中介作用。父子依恋和母子依恋在父、母心理控制和ODD儿童攻击行为之间均没有起到显著的中介作用。     

攻击的社会性认知学习的调节

这项研究探索了小学儿童的攻击与影响儿童是否采取攻击行为的社会认知的两个等级的联系.给攻击性和非攻击性的儿童(平均年龄为11.3岁)提供二个调查表,让他们进行回答.一个调查表是测量儿童对自己进行攻击的能力及相应的行为的认识(即自我实力的认识),而另一个调查表则测量儿童对攻击性行为会得到的奖励和惩罚的后果的认识.     

性别刻板印象及刻板信息对3～9岁儿童玩具选择的影响

采用玩具选择任务,通过对角色性别刻板玩具偏好的描述,考察3-9岁儿童对自己和他人性别刻板印象的发展状况,及外部信息对儿童选择的影响。结果表明：（1）儿童在玩具选择中表现出的性剐刻板印象在4．5岁显著增强,在7～9岁趋于稳定;（2）男孩性别刻板印象的形成先于女孩;（3）学龄前期儿童对不舍性别刻板信息的女性角色最不刻板,性别刻板信息会显著增加女孩对异性角色的刺板程度,而男孩则对自身的玩具选择最为刺板：（4）5-6岁时,儿童对自身玩具选择的性别刻板要求显著增强。总的来说,儿童的性别刻板印象受到内部认知发展和社会环境的共同作用。     

2～11岁儿童自我控制发展的稳定性与变化及其性别差异

采用实验室行为观察法考察了114名2～11岁儿童自我控制的发展变化及其性别差异。结果表明:(1)儿童的自我控制在2岁到4岁之间具有低等程度的相对稳定性,在4～11岁之间具有低等程度的相对稳定性。(2)女孩在2岁、4岁、7岁和11岁时的自我控制均显著高于男孩。(3)从2岁到11岁,男孩和女孩自我控制的发展变化存在差异。对于女孩来说,4岁时的自我控制显著高于2岁时,4岁与7岁、11岁之间以及7岁与11岁之间的自我控制均无显著差异;对于男孩来说,4岁时的自我控制显著高于2岁时,7岁时显著低于4岁,7岁与11岁之间的自我控制无显著差异。     

父亲教养态度与儿童在4～7岁间的问题行为和学校适应

对54名儿童在4岁和7岁时的问题行为及其父亲的教养态度进行追踪研究,在儿童7岁时,根据教师报告考察其学校适应情况。结果发现：父亲的过分关心能显著预测男孩的外显和内隐问题行为;父亲的拒绝和控制能显著预测儿童在学校中的助人行为;从4岁到7岁．父亲的教养态度既有稳定性,又有一定的变化;父亲对待男孩和女孩的教养态度差异显著。     

五岁至七岁独生和非独生子女某些个性特征的比较及性别差异的研究

本研究是在北京城区六个日托幼儿园所作的关于5至7岁独生和非独生子女某些个性特征差异的比较研究。被试有138名独生子女和127名非独生子女,其中男孩120名、女孩145名。观察了五类行为:独立性、助人行为、依赖性、攻击行为和友好行为,这五类行为共有16个观察项目。在所有三个年龄组,非独生子女在依赖性,助人行为和攻击行为等方面的平均得分总的来说略高于独生子女,但是没有统计学上显著差异。只有五岁组在独立性方面独生和非独生子女之间的差异达到显著性水平(P<0.005)。对被试家长问卷的分析也表明,独生子女与非独生子女之间在大多数项目和年龄组都没有显著差别。只有独立性这一方面在五岁组差异是显著的。我们还比较了性别差异,在所观察的五类行为中除了助人行为之外,在依赖性、独立性、攻击性行为和友好行为等方面都存在显著的性别差异。在友好行为方面女孩比男孩表现好,而男孩比女孩更富有攻击性。     

Children's verbalizations and cheating behavior during game playing: the role of sociometric status,aggression, and gender

The first goal of this study was to investigate sociometric status, aggression, and gender differences in children's verbalizations and cheating behavior during game playing using a fine-grained observational coding system. The second goal was to control for the effects of differential peer treatment and bias on children's behavior by observing children in a standardized procedure with unfamiliar peer confederates. Participants were 111 second-grade African American children, half average and half rejected sociometric status, half aggressive and half nonaggressive based on peer nominations, and half boys and half girls. Rejected children engaged in more cheating behavior and made more negative and argumentative verbalizations than average status children. Boys made more negative and argumentative verbalizations than girls. Aggressive children did not differ from nonaggressive children, in terms of either verbalizations or cheating behavior.     

Behavior problems and peer rejection in preschool boys and girls

The authors tested the hypothesis that deviant behaviors within a preschool peer group would be linked with peer rejection, irrespective of child gender. Seventy-six children, aged 3 to 5 years, participated. Teachers rated children's behavior on the Child Adaptive Behavior Inventory, and children provided sociometric ratings. For a subsample of children (n = 47), observers coded aggressive, noncompliant, and withdrawn behavior using a time-sampling system. For both boys and girls, noncompliance, hyperactivity, and social withdrawal were associated with peer rejection; overt aggression was associated with peer rejection for boys, but not for girls. Analysis revealed that approximately half of the variance in sociometric and teacher ratings of peer rejection was accounted for by aggression and social withdrawal for both boys and girls. The results suggest that the association between behavior problems and peer rejection emerges at a very early age.     

Contingent responses of mothers and peers to indirect and direct aggression in preschool and school-aged children

The primary goal of the study was to determine whether mother and peer's responses to direct and indirect aggression would contribute to children's use of direct and indirect aggression. Using adaptations of the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scale, a multi-informant strategy, and a sample of disadvantaged families, data were collected from 296 mothers of children ages 4-11, 237 children ages 6-11, and 151 teachers of those children. Mothers and peers were reported to react more harshly in response to direct aggression compared with indirect aggression, and higher rates of direct aggression were associated with reduced popularity. These findings were seen as being consistent with the hypothesis that different forms of aggression result in differential responding by mothers and peers, as well as the notion that direct aggression is a higher cost option than indirect aggression. Results also replicated previous findings that boys tend to use physical aggression more than girls, but girls use indirect aggression more than boys. Finally, low IQ was correlated with higher direct aggression in girls but had no relation with aggression in boys.     

Age differences in the prevalence of physical aggression among 5-11-year-old Canadian boys and girls

It has been proven extremely difficult in the past to estimate the prevalence of physical aggression in children for two main reasons: (a) a heterogeneous sampling of behaviors (i.e., mix between physically aggressive and non-physically aggressive antisocial behaviors), and (b) a lack of a "gold standard" to identify children who exhibit physically aggressive behaviors on a frequent basis. The goal of this study was to test for age differences in the prevalence of physical aggression in the Canadian population of school-aged boys and girls, using cross-sectional data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). The first wave of the NLSCY included a representative sample of 12,292 Canadian children aged 5-11 years. We used latent class analysis to identify children whose propensity to exhibit physically aggressive behaviors was much higher than that of other children of the same age and sex in the population. The prevalence of physical aggression was estimated at 3.7% in 5-11-year-old boys and ranged from .5% to 2.3% in 11 and 5-year-old girls, respectively. Hence, the results show a decreasing trend in the prevalence of physical aggression with age for girls, but not for boys. These findings suggest the importance of considering the developmental pathways of physical aggression for boys and girls separately.     

The effect of religiosity and ethnic origin on direct and indirect aggression among males and females: Some Israeli findings

Israeli society is characterized by significant internal divisions. Two of the most salient of these divisions within the Jewish population relate to (1) religiosity (religious vs. secular Jews) and (2) ethnic origin (Eastern [Asian and North African] vs. Western [European and American]). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of these social divisions on aggressive behavior and victimization to aggression among Israeli children. Three types of aggressive behavior (physical, verbal, and indirect) were investigated by means of peer estimation. The sample (N = 630) was composed of three age groups (8‐, 11‐, and 15‐year‐olds). The findings indicate that in general, secular respondents scored higher on aggressive behavior and victimization than their religious counterparts, and respondents of Eastern origin scored higher than those of Israeli or Western origin. The effect of both religiosity and ethnic origin was stronger among girls than among boys. Ethnic origin had no effect on any of the boys’ measures but did affect these measures among girls. Among boys, religiosity affected verbal and indirect aggression and victimization. Among girls, indirect aggression and victimization, as well as victimization to physical aggression, were affected by religiosity. As to the effect of age, similar to previous studies, in all types of aggression and victimization, the 11‐year‐olds scored highest and the 15‐year‐olds scored lowest. Differences between the three types of aggression and victimization, as well as various interactions between the variables, are reported. The results are discussed within the wider context of the role of religiosity and ethnic origin in Israeli society. Aggr. Behav. 28:281–298, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Social‐cognitive mediators of the relation of environmental and emotion regulation factors to children's aggression

Tested a theoretical model in which social cognitions about aggression partially mediated the relation of environmental and emotion regulation factors to children's aggressive behavior. An ethnically diverse sample of 778 children (57% girls) in grades 4–6 from both urban and suburban schools participated. Measures included exposure to aggression (seeing/hearing about aggression, victimization), emotion regulation (impulsivity, anger control), social cognitions about aggression (self‐evaluation, self‐efficacy, retaliation approval, aggressive fantasizing, caring about consequences), and aggressive behavior. Results supported the hypothesis that social cognitions mediate the relations of exposure to aggression and anger control to aggressive behavior. Also, social cognitions about direct and indirect aggression differentially predicted the respective behaviors with which they are associated. That is, social cognitions about direct aggression were mediators of direct aggressive behavior, whereas social cognitions about indirect aggression were mediators of indirect aggressive behavior. Finally, gender moderated the relations among the variables such that for girls, retaliation approval beliefs were a strong mediator, whereas for boys, self‐evaluation was more important. Aggr. Behav. 30:389–408, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Aggressive behavior in children's dolls' house play

The present study addressed the question of whether there are gender and age differences in aggressive behavior when it is studied as the spontaneous expression of mental contents and not as the result of immediate social interaction. This study also investigated whether aggression, in terms of mental content, is related to temperamental aspects. Aggressive behaviors were examined in make‐believe play, in relation to age, gender, and temperament in a near‐ecological context, i.e., the Dolls' House Play. The participants, 55 boys and 47 girls, subdivided into three age levels (4 years–4 years and 6 months; 5–6 years; and 7 years and 6 months–8 years and 6 months) were requested to represent what happens in their family 1) during Mealtimes; 2) at Bedtime; 3) on the Saddest day; and 4) the Happiest day; their Dolls' House Play was then recorded. Children's temperaments were measured with the TABC‐Teachers' form [Martin, The Temperament Assessment Battery for Children, Brandon, VT: Clinical Psychology Publishing, 1998]. Data analysis was conducted considering aggressive behaviors in their distinct expressions—physical, verbal, direct, and indirect. Results revealed no statistical differences between boys and girls when all aggressive behaviors were compounded. However, when the distinct types of aggressiveness were considered, boys presented statistically higher levels of physical aggression than girls did. Moreover, boys and girls reacted with different types of aggression in the different emotional contexts created by the four episodes. Few age differences were observed. Surprisingly, there was a significantly greater presence of indirect verbal aggressiveness in younger children. With respect to temperament, a higher level of negative emotivity was significantly linked to a greater degree of aggressive behaviors in some of the episodes. In conclusion, this paper confirms gender differences in the type of aggressive behavior children display even in the absence of any immediate social interaction, which might itself trigger aggression. Aggr. Behav. 30:504–519, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Attributional biases in aggressive children and their mothers

To investigate if mothers and their aggressive children share the tendency to infer hostile motives from others' behavior in ambiguous social situations, 100 pairs of mothers and their clinic-referred or comparison children (50 boys and 50 girls) were asked to interpret hypothetical situations involving both overtly and relationally provocative scenarios. Results replicated previous findings of studies on social information processing of aggressive children and extended the findings to mothers of aggressive children. Findings were generally consistent with the hypothesis that mothers of aggressive children tend to view others' ambiguous actions as hostile, increasing the probability of responding with aggression and, in effect, modeling a hostile attributional bias for their children. Examinations of mothers' and their children's attributional and behavioral intentions suggested that mothers' and daughters' attributions and behavioral intentions were significantly correlated, whereas mothers' and sons' were not. Gender effects with regard to provocation type are also discussed.     

Social-information-processing factors in reactive and proactive aggression in children's peer groups

We examined social-information-processing mechanisms (e.g., hostile attributional biases and intention-cue detection deficits) in chronic reactive and proactive aggressive behavior in children's peer groups. In Study 1, a teacher-rating instrument was developed to assess these behaviors in elementary school children (N = 259). Reactive and proactive scales were found to be internally consistent, and factor analyses partially supported convergent and discriminant validities. In Study 2, behavioral correlates of these forms of aggression were examined through assessments by peers (N = 339). Both types of aggression related to social rejection, but only proactively aggressive boys were also viewed as leaders and as having a sense of humor. In Study 3, we hypothesized that reactive aggression (but not proactive aggression) would occur as a function of hostile attributional biases and intention-cue detection deficits. Four groups of socially rejected boys (reactive aggressive, proactive aggressive, reactive-proactive aggressive, and nonaggressive) and a group of average boys were presented with a series of hypothetical videorecorded vignettes depicting provocations by peers and were asked to interpret the intentions of the provocateur (N = 117). Only the two reactive-aggressive groups displayed biases and deficits in interpretations. In Study 4, attributional biases and deficits were found to be positively correlated with the rate of reactive aggression (but not proactive aggression) displayed in free play with peers (N = 127). These studies supported the hypothesis that attributional biases and deficits are related to reactive aggression but not to proactive aggression.     

Do hostile attribution biases in children and parents predict relationally aggressive behavior?

Relatively little is understood about the role of hostile attributions in children's use of relational aggression with peers, or about the impact of family processes on children's attributions about ambiguous provocations. This cross-sectional study investigated associations among hostile attributions made by children, mothers, and fathers, and children's use of relational aggression with peers. The sample included 91 children in Grades 3-5 (43 girls), and their mothers (n = 90) and teachers (n = 88). Fathers also participated for a subsample of children (n = 53). Results showed that relational aggression is associated with a hostile attribution bias in children and parents, although findings varied as a function of gender of parent and child, provocation type, and informant of aggression. Overall, mothers' attributions were more closely related to daughters' attributions and aggressive behavior than to sons'. Implications of these findings for social information processing models and family-focused prevention of relational aggression are discussed.