A social–ecological model of preschoolers’ aggressive behavior: An exploratory analysis.

Abstract

Understanding classroom-level correlates of preschool children's aggressive behavior is critical to identifying multiple avenues for intervention within schools. The present school-based study evaluated the reliability and validity of a classroom-level measure of physical and relational aggression and examined a social-ecological model to test whether individual variables (i.e., temperament), dyadic peer factors (i.e., peer victimization, the number of a child's play partners), and classroom-level aggression were associated with individual aggression. Observations of play partners and teacher reports of temperament (i.e., daring, prosociality, and negative emotionality), peer victimization (i.e., physical and relational victimization), and classroom aggression were collected in a sample of preschoolers (N = 307; M age = 48.99 months, SD = 7.51). Observer reports of aggression were used to create aggression severity and directionality scores, reflecting the overall level of aggression a child displays and their propensity to use physical relative to relational aggression, respectively. There was evidence to support the reliability and validity of the classroom-level aggression measure providing initial support that this measure could be used by school psychologists. A multilevel regression model indicated that higher levels of negative emotionality, daring, and a greater number of play partners were associated with higher levels of aggression severity. Children in classrooms with more relational aggression were more likely to use relational instead of physical aggression. These findings demonstrate the importance for school psychologists to account for multiple levels of influence when examining preschoolers' aggression. Impact and ImplicationsThe present study addressed gaps in the school psychology literature by evaluating the association between preschoolers' classroom-level aggression and their individual aggression while controlling for child temperament and dyadic peer experiences. Results demonstrated that classroom relational aggression was associated with the type of aggressive behavior a child uses (i.e., relational aggression), whereas temperament was more strongly related to the severity of a child's aggressive behavior. These findings indicate that school psychologists should consider individual-, dyadic-, and classroom-level factors when considering children's aggressive behavior.

Preschool Aggression and Victimization: A Short-Term Longitudinal Analysis of the Immediate Social Environment

“…Despite the growing body of research examining individual-level factors and specific aspects of the social environment in relation to preschool aggression, there remains an important gap in examining factors within the microsystems together. 26 , 50 Furthermore, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of how these factors interact across multiple levels within the socioecological context of early childhood, specifically the interplay between individual factors, family variables, and those in the school, peer an community context. 51 Exploring the connections with a lone factor or elements from a singular domain may lead to inflated results, as practical scenarios involve interactions among factors from multiple environmental subsystems working synergistically.…”