Research Findings: The transition to kindergarten has important ramifications for future achievement and psychosocial outcomes. Research suggests that physical aggression may be related to difficulty during school transitions, yet no studies to date have examined the role of relational aggression in these transitions. This article examines how…

To better understand peer exclusion in young children, 42 four- to six-year-olds were observed in an outdoor setting, and their verbalizations were recorded using wireless microphones. The frequency of peer exclusion and social aggression, the various techniques children used to exclude their peers (unmitigated, mitigated, ignoring, and planning…

The research goals were to use the constructs of harm and intent to quantify the severity of aggression in the real-world setting of the bar/club, to describe the range of aggressive behaviors and their relationship to harm and intent, and to examine gender differences in the form and severity of aggression. Systematic observations were conducted…

Although research on assertion has made important advances in our understanding of young children's behavior within their peer group, there has been a significant limitation in that prior studies have generally not given attention to the gender specific social goals of girls. To advance the literature, this short-term longitudinal study uses a…

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…

Naturalistic observations were made of children in grades one through six on school playgrounds. Observers coded interactive behaviors, affective valence, and play states. Aggressive children displayed more verbal and physical aggression, antisocial behaviors, and interaction than did nonaggressive children. Peers made similar initiations to the…

Fignting behavior in young children was investigated in a sample of 96 first- and second-grade children from 14 classrooms in two suburban schools. A fight (or "conflict episode") was defined as a sequence of interchanges between two children in which child A attempts to influence child B's behavior, child B resists, and child A…

Videocameras and wireless microphones were used to study the peer relations of aggressive and nonaggressive children on playgrounds at two schools. Aggressive children were found to be verbally and physically aggressive once every 3 and 8 minutes, respectively, while nonaggressive children were found to be verbally and physically aggressive once…

Compares bullying and victimization in the playground and in the classroom through naturalistic observations. Results indicate that there were more opportunities to observe aggression and receive and initiate aggression in the playground than in the classroom. Nonaggressive children were more likely to bully in the playground, whereas aggressive…

A study examined conflict resolution strategies employed by a kindergarten teacher with her class of 22 students. Naturalistic observation was used to investigate the strategies in instances of four specific behaviors: being aggressive, blaming, bossing, and tattling. The investigation revealed that, after repeated exposure to and numerous…

This study of the behavior of a mixed group of male and female preschoolers in an indoor, free-play setting was designed to clarify two general issues: (1) the ratio of aggressive to non-aggressive disputes and the factors in the situation which may be associated with this relationship; and (2) the factors in the conflict episodes themselves which…

Examines the cross-dimensional and cross-situational consistency of the aggressive, assertive, and submissive behavior of male adolescents observed in a variety of naturally occurring school activities. Behavior was found to vary as a function of sex role orientation and the class of behavior investigated. (LS)