ERIC Number: EJ941090
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Nov
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0261-510X
EISSN: N/A
The Role of Social-Cognitive Abilities in Preschoolers' Aggressive Behaviour
Werner, Rebecca Stetson; Cassidy, Kimberly Wright; Juliano, Mariel
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, v24 n4 p775-799 Nov 2006
This study investigated the relationship between preschool children's social-cognitive abilities (theory of mind and social information processing; SIP) and their observed physical and relational aggressive behaviour. Children with more advanced social-cognitive abilities engaged in fewer acts of physical aggression; however, much of the ability of the social-cognitive variables to predict physical aggression was shared with language ability. In addition, social-cognitive understanding moderated the connection between language ability and physical aggression. Exploratory examination of gender differences in patterns of association between physical aggression and the social cognitive understanding variables revealed that the relationships were only true for boys. Relational aggression was not associated with social cognitive ability for either boys or girls, but this is likely due to the low frequency of relationally aggressive behaviour observed in this sample.
Descriptors: Theory of Mind, Preschool Children, Gender Differences, Information Processing, Males, Social Cognition, Interpersonal Competence, Aggression, Peer Relationship, Language Skills, Correlation, Females, Developmental Psychology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A