Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model proposes that events in higher order social ecosystems should influence human development through their impact on events in lower order social ecosystems. This proposition was tested with respect to ecological violence and the development of children's aggression via analyses of 3 waves of data (1 wave…

Tattling, defined as the reporting to a second party of norm violations committed by a third party, is a frequent but little-studied activity among young children. Participant observation and quantitative sampling are used to provide a detailed characterization of tattling in 2 preschools (initial mean age = 4.08 years, N = 40). In these…

Aggressive incidents were observed for 23 children in 2 preschool playgroups. Linear dominance hierarchies were constructed for each group and rank orderings on toughness were obtained. The rankings on perceived toughness correlated better with initiation of aggression than with observed dominance position. (JMB)

Children's conflicts with one another during free play were observed to determine the relation between the child's rate of conflict participation and his or her rate of aggressive behavior during conflict episodes and between these variables and the degree to which the child was liked or disliked by peers. (Author/SO)

Results indicate that there is no simple relationship between type of observer present and children's aggressive responding following exposure to an aggressive model. (Authors)

Reports three studies which assess bias on the part of aggressive boys to overattribute hostile intentions to peers. After determining the condition under which aggressive attributions are made, the role of selective attention to and recall of hostile cues in biased attribution was investigated. Additionally, peer-directed aggressive behaviors…

Examined factors associated with young children's aggression. Observed 104 toddlers during free play with same-sex peer, with both mothers present. Found that early out-of-home care was not related to aggression. Boys were more aggressive than girls. Observed aggression and mother-reported externalizing problems were associated significantly with…

This study examined relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to second-graders' anger after losing in a board game to a cheating confederate. Found that reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was positively related to skin conductance reactivity and observed angry nonverbal behaviors, both at an aggregated level and in terms…

Observed 18- to 30-month-olds' use of force against peers. Found no sex differences in average aggression levels or in mothers' aggression ratings. Rate of hitting peers and mothers' ratings were stable over 6 months for girls only. Toddlers especially sensitive to peers' possible intentions hit peers more and were more likely than to use force…

Examined the nature of teacher responses to preschoolers' problem and preacademic behavior as a function of sex. Teachers generally responded more frequently to boys. (ST)

Investigated through direct observation in the home whether mothers socialize differently boys and girls growing up as opposite-sexed twins, triplets, and quadruplets as a function of their different genders. Children and mothers were rated on behaviors about which contradictory evidence had been reported in the literature. (Author/DB)

Multiple measures of social and cognitive functioning were obtained to investigate whether abused and neglected children demonstrate serious psychological disturbances following instances of child maltreatment. Participants were 42 preschool children who had a previous history of physical abuse, serious neglect, or no maltreatment. (Author/RH)

Results generated by peers, teachers, and unbiased observers converged in some behavioral domains and diverged in others. All three sources provided similar pictures of the relation between aggression and status, although observations of third grade boys did not yield sufficient frequencies of aggression to allow meaningful conclusions. (RH)

Observations indicated that, in contrast to children attending preschool half-days, preschool children attending full-days spent significantly more time on tasks directed and guided by teachers, interacted more positively with peers, and engaged in more physical activity. Teachers rated full-time students, especially boys, as more aggressive and…