Seventeen children who had been removed from deleterious family backgrounds and placed in institutional care were exposed to imaginative play training. They showed significant increments in levels of imaginative play, positive emotionality, prosocial behaviors, and in measures of divergent thinking and story-telling skills, and decreases in levels…

Results suggest that, especially at older ages, children who are both aggressive and withdrawn represent a less mature, less socially skilled group that is potentially at risk for poor adjustment later in life. (Author)

The study determined the effects of Structured Learning Therapy (SLT) in treating 60 Puerto Rican fathers who had exhibited family aggression. The validity of using a short-term therapy program such as SLT to counteract a longstanding cultural tradition was questioned. (SB)

Canadian seventh-graders were given intelligence, mathematics, and English tests. These scores and their class grades were compared with personality questionnaire measures of aggression, self-concept, and attitudes. Substantial correlations were obtained between the ability and personality variables, with marked sex differences. (Author/SJL)

Argues that teachers play a major role in guiding children toward responsible anger management. Addresses what researchers know about the development of children's feeling, expression, and understanding of anger. Examines factors contributing to managing anger including memory, language, and self-referential and self-regulatory behaviors.…

Used the Revised Class Play to assess dimensions of peer reputation among two cohorts of ninth-grade, inner-city students. Found that popularity, isolation, aggressive/disruptive reputation, and prosocial orientation generally showed expected patterns of associations with students' adjustment, with the exception that aggression was linked with…

Fighting violence requires a networking approach among schools, community, and parents. This article advises elementary school counselors: (a) focus on the causes of aggression; (b) identify children with the propensity for behaving aggressively; and (c) prevent aggressive responses in children and adolescents by introducing techniques and…

Investigated fourth, sixth, and eighth graders' thinking about the role of a bystander and the role of a victim in the context of aggression. Findings suggest that evaluation of behavioral responses on the part of bystanders and victims is influenced by the relationship among the parties involved. (RJM)

This longitudinal study examined relationships among 4 risk factors (social supports, maternal psychological adjustment, maternal preparation for parenting, and child temperament), maternal predisposition for aggressive coping, and maternal abuse potential in 75 adolescent mothers and their children. Preparation for parenting was most strongly…

Most gang membership research studies males; few examine the etiology of female gang membership. Presents themes of female gang membership gathered from interviews with 15 young women. Examines demographic material, family structure, initiation rites, and criminal behaviors. Explores implications for social work practice and research. (FC)

Reports on a study of moral judgments in aggressive and nonaggressive children. Assessed moral judgment by presenting the children with stories of moral conflict in everyday life using peer rating. Results showed significant differences according to gender and no constant level of moral reasoning was measured in either aggressive or nonaggressive…

Examines the importance of goals and style in female competition. Describes an ethnographic study of 27 girls and 12 boys playing a ball game at a Quaker school. Finds that the girls used stereotypically feminine rhetoric to support aggressive competition. (FMW)

Tested four different theoretical models (risk, protective, potentiator, and person-environment fit) describing ways that geographical neighborhoods might be associated with aggression and peer relationship problems in 1,271 elementary school children. Results suggest a protective effect of middle-SES neighborhoods on the aggressive behavior among…

Examines the history of violence in American society, explains some reasons behind these acts, and explores the implications of societal acceptance of violence. While criminologists consider extreme violence to be deviant forms of natural aggression, the paper shows that American society tolerates physical force when expressing political dissent…

Preschool children's security of attachment was assessed in the laboratory, and their interactions with peers were observed in the preschool. Insecure boys showed more aggressive, disruptive, assertive, and controlling behavior than secure children. Insecure girls showed more dependent and compliant behavior, and less assertive and controlling…