ارتباطات آینده نگر بین اشکال و عملکردهای خشونت و فرآیندهای اجتماعی و عاطفی در اوایل دوران کودکی

The central goal of this study was to examine the prospective associations between forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggressive behavior with social (i.e., peer rejection) and affective (i.e., anger, emotion regulation skills) processes during early childhood (N = 96, mean age = 42.80 months, SD = 7.57). A cross-lagged path analysis revealed that proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with decreases in peer rejection, whereas reactive relational aggression was associated with increases in peer rejection over time. Proactive relational aggression predicted decreases in anger, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with increases in anger. Proactive relational aggression uniquely predicted increases in emotion regulation skills, whereas reactive relational aggression tended to be associated with decreases in emotion regulation skills over time. Finally, anger was significantly associated with increases in several subtypes of aggressive behavior. In sum, the findings provide further support for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behavior in young children.

Aggression is a major risk factor for psychopathology and a symptom of several disorders among children and adolescents (American Psychiatric Association, 2000 and Dodge et al., 2006). It is important to understand the social and emotional factors associated with the onset and course of aggression in order to develop effective prevention and intervention programs to address these behaviors (Leff, Power, Manz, Costigan, & Nabors, 2001). Moreover, research regarding developmental processes associated with aggression during early childhood may help to inform efforts to help at-risk children avoid maladaptive developmental trajectories (Sroufe, 1997). To best capture the developmental manifestations of aggression and associated outcomes, it is important to consider both the forms (i.e., relational and physical) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression (Little, Jones, Henrich, & Hawley, 2003).

The current study builds on prior theory and empirical work to test novel hypotheses concerning the prospective associations between forms and functions of aggression and social and affective processes during early childhood. Peer rejection, emotion regulation skills, and anger were found to be prospectively associated with the forms and functions of aggression subtypes in theoretically meaningful ways. Our sophisticated cross-lagged path analysis provided a conservative test of these hypotheses and overall supports the two-dimensional conceptualization of forms and functions of aggression approach during early childhood.