Why Do Children Develop Aggressive Behavior?

Children can move from play to fight and back again.

Aggressive behaviors in children can be linked to early childhood experiences. It is important to define these links so this behavior can be prevented or corrected. People are social beings, and children need to learn appropriate ways to get along and resolve conflicts with others. Young children can naturally move from play to aggression and back again. In this they learn what they can do and what they cannot do socially. Aggressive behaviors in children can be influenced by family, friends, school and environmental factors.

Aggression

Aggression in children is defined as intentional actions that result in injury to a person or animal or the damage or destruction of property. Aggression in children is rooted in early family interactions and parental values and expectations. Aggression is different from assertion. Assertion is the act of standing up for yourself. The child's social success and ability to build friendships are strongly affected by aggressive behaviors. Young children tend to tell their teachers that they do not want to be friends with another student who behaves aggressively in class.

Media Violence

Connection made between TV violence and aggressive behavior.

Media violence and its effect on children have been studied for over 30 years. In July 2000, the "Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children" was put together by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychological Association. This statement cites evidence of media violence being directly linked to aggression in children. It does matter how much television children watch and what they watch. Children do not have the life experience to differentiate between fact and fiction like adults do. As cartoons become more life-like with advanced computer animation and shows take story lines from the news, it becomes even more difficult. Children learn by copying what they see, whether it is from their parents, siblings or on TV. Seeing violent actions on television makes this type of behavior seem more acceptable than it is.

Video Games

Through fighting or war type of video games, children and teens can learn to associate violence with entertainment. This is explained in detailed in the book, "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" written by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.

Many of the American hero characters portrayed in video games are more mavericks than law-abiding leaders: characters taking the law into their own hands to right a wrong. Without the experience to guide them, children and teens can look to this to justify their feelings of life's unfairness and wanting to break the rules themselves to make it fair.
When they are regularly seeing conflicts in the video games resolved by overly dramatic or violent means, their response to conflict will lean in that direction. This can lead to bullying, fighting, and destroying or stealing property.

Spanking

A study completed in 2010 by Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans reports that children who were spanked are twice as likely to be aggressive than children who were not spanked. These aggressive behaviors included being verbally mean, destroying property, or fighting. The research included nearly 2,500 children, with more than half being spanked recently. The children who had been spanked at least twice by age 3 were twice as likely to be aggressive at the age of 5.

Prevention/Solution

There are things parents can do to help their children to either not become aggressive or change their aggressive behaviors.

The AAP statement says studies have shown that children who watch seven hours or less of TV per week have less aggressive tendencies. This is limiting overall TV, not just the violent programs. By playing board or card games, playing outside or allowing the children to play on teams or join clubs, parents can teach their children good ways to use their time and interact with others.

Talking with your children about the little things, the things that don't matter, will make it easier for them to talk to you about the things that do matter. Academic stress, social challenges, and frustration can make a child more likely to use aggression. Children who are able to talk with their parents about these things will be less likely to experience this.
Letting off steam is just as important for children as it is for adults. When parents give children the opportunity to run, do something physical, pound out Play-Doh or bang on pots and pans as a way to use up energy, they are giving their children a way to deal with a problem and not just the energy and emotion that comes with that problem.

References

• LimiTV: media violence and behavior
• MSNBC: spanking kids linked to bullying
• PBS: building inner controls
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Media violence