Children are three and a half years at the most aggressive

Small children can be shockingly brutal, they hit, bite, pinch and kick. Now, researchers have studied the aggressiveness of adolescents. Accordingly, the physical Canada to take in the case of small children, achieved with about 3.5 years of a Maximum and fades then up to elementary school age.

The results are based on the observation of 2223 children, such as the scientist Richard Tremblay of the University of Montreal in the journal “Jama Network Open” reports. All the children were born between 1997 and 1998 in the province of Quebec and up to the age of 13 years.

The analysis has a serious Background: in the case of each child the child takes advanced aggressiveness. A small part of it tends to be even as a teenager, to physical violence, associated with a higher risk for violence-related offences, impaired social behavior, school failure, and drug and alcohol abuse. How can at-risk children?

Family circumstances in infancy is crucial

In their analysis, the researchers found several risk factors associated with later violence. To do this, especially family circumstances in infancy, were: The affected children had more often parents with a low level of education or depression, with a low income, as well as mothers and fathers, who were also in the youth set-up more noticeable.

In high-risk families, it could be useful during pregnancy and in infancy, with targeted measures to intervene, the researchers believe. This could help avoid that children are persistently aggressive.

In the study, self-assessments of boys and girls, in addition to information from parents and teachers. While the children were still very small, was questioned your strongest reference person – in almost all cases, the mother – to-seven Times. The events took place, as the children of a year and a half, two and a half, three and a half, four and a half, five, six and eight years old.

Then the teachers who perceived the behaviour at the age of six to thirteen years of acquisitions. Added to this were the interviews with the girls and boys themselves – each at the age of ten, twelve and thirteen years.

In young major differences

As the aggressive behavior, the researchers evaluated if a child was often physical conflicts with other children bite, hit, kicked, or otherwise attacked. Girls were rated, on average, as significantly less aggressive, especially from the teachers. In addition, young greater individual differences:

• 26 percent of boys, according to mothers, teachers, and even information hardly aggressive.
• 30.5 percent have occasionally had physical confrontations.
• 20.5% were of preschool age, moderately aggressive at school but barely.
• 17 per cent appeared to the mothers as a highly aggressive, teachers rated these boys later as moderately aggressive.
• 6 percent of the children were eventually considered by the mothers as a moderately aggressive, reported later, but even of powerful aggression, as well as the teacher.

In the case of these six per cent of the boys there was, according to information from the mothers often a significant increase in physical Assaults with the start of school. Up to the age of five years, they would not have shown itself according to the statements of the mothers are often very striking.

So the boys in this group, contrary to the Rest. Its environment is different from the other children, their parents had a lower household income, and their mothers were more likely to become self-as young people is striking.

Aggressive small children, peaceful 13-Year-old

Significantly less critical it was, however, when mothers assessed their children at the age of 1.5 to 3.5 years as very aggressive. The behavior up to this point the most aggressive young not more difference in the age of 13 years of the most peaceful participants in the study.

In girls, the researchers observed a different development, Where the children were as young children aggressive, remained, even in the elementary school. A possible explanation for this could be, however, that the mothers rated the aggressive behavior of their daughters rather than striking, and in the case of sons, rather than the normal evaluated, the researchers to bear in mind.

No difference between the sexes, the average height of the violence: This was girls and boys alike at 3.5 years. Thus, the result is consistent with studies from the past, according to which children achieve in the normal case, at the age of two to four years the peak of their aggressive behavior, to calm down until the start of school again.