By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Heidi Radunovich, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, and Suzanna Smith, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
This post is part of a series recognizing the Week of the Young Child. To learn more, visit http://www.naeyc.org/woyc.
“Use your words!” It’s a frequent refrain in any daycare. It can be hard for emotional little people to remember to express themselves verbally instead of through pushing and hitting.
As children get a bit older, most will stop resorting to physical aggression to solve problems. However, in most kindergarten classrooms, there are generally a few children still struggling with the impulse to lash out physically.
Why do some children have issues with aggression after most have passed through this stage? New research published in the journal Development and Psychopathology reveals two very different pathways that can cause aggressive behavior to persist.
Researchers looked at about 200 children whose teachers described them as aggressive, comparing them to less aggressive classroom peers who were otherwise similar. They discovered that 90% of the aggressive children were either low in verbal and cognitive skills, meaning they found it hard to make their needs known with words or to think through their actions, and/or easily physiologically aroused, meaning that their bodies reacted very strongly to emotions. Reactive children also tended to live in stressful home environments where parental discipline was more inconsistent.
These findings suggest that children may be aggressive for different reasons. To help, parents and teachers can try to tune in to what each child needs and begin to give them the tools they may be lacking. For some children, support with verbal and thinking skills—learning to “use those words” and problem-solve —may be vital. Others may need calmer, more consistent home environments to help them feel more peaceful. Still others may have other issues with stress that need to be addressed.
Taking individual needs into account when dealing with aggressive children, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, can help boys and girls to move past these challenges and begin to thrive, at home and in the classroom.
Further Reading
Growing Ideas: Whack! Slam! Bang! Aggression (From the University of Maine Extension)
Backpack Connection Series: Anger (From the University of South Florida)
(Photo credit: Le Méchant garçon by Vilhelm Pedersen. Public domain.)
References:
Gatzke-Kopp, L., Greenberg, M. T., Fortunato, C. K., & Coccia, M. A. (2012). Aggression as an equifinal outcome of distinct neurocognitive and neuroaffective processes. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 985–1002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579412000491
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