Early Childhood Aggressive And Prosocial Behaviors
EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, 22(2), 305–323
Copyright # 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1040-9289 print=1556-6935 online
DOI: 10.1080/10409281003668060
Training Early Childhood Educators to Promote Peer Interactions: Effects on Children’s Aggressive and
Prosocial Behaviors
Lisa-Christine Girard and Luigi Girolametto
Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto
Elaine Weitzman and Janice Greenberg
The Hanen Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Research Findings: This study examined the effects of educators’ participation in an in-service training program on the aggressive and prosocial behaviors of preschool-age children. Seventeen early childhood educators were randomly assigned to experimental and …show more content…
Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore whether an in-service education program designed to facilitate positive peer interactions would reduce the aggressive behaviors and increase the prosocial behaviors of preschool children during small-group play interactions. Preschool aggression can take various forms, including relational, physical, or verbal aggression. The current study focuses on physical and verbal aggression used by preschoolers in small-group interactions because these two forms of aggression have been shown to occur most frequently in toddlers and preschool-age children (Tremblay, Gervais, & Petitclerc,
2008). Developmentally speaking, physical and verbal aggression peak by the age of 3 and typically decline by the age of 5 as young children gain higher level skills in language development, perspective taking, and emotional regulation, which help to control aggression (Tremblay et al., 2008).
However, children’s sustained use of aggressive behaviors during early childhood increases the risk that these negative behaviors may stabilize across time if no corrective interventions are used to address them
(Persson, 2005). Longitudinal studies suggest that early and …show more content…
None of the children in this sample met or exceeded these levels of aggression in the 30 min of observation.
An alternative explanation for the observed low rates of aggressive behavior may be that the small-group interactions provided sufficient individualized attention from the educators, making behavior management easier
(e.g., Wasik, 2008). In small groups, educators can attend to children more quickly, anticipate their needs, and respond to their requests more efficiently than in larger groups. Consequently, this methodological feature may have reduced the overall incidence of aggressive behaviors (Maccoby, 1990). To measure the success of this in-service training in decreasing aggressive behaviors, the current study needs to be replicated using a sample of children identified as aggressive.
Another potential explanation for the lack of significant findings for aggression pertains to the nature of the in-service education program used for the control group. Although experimental and control programs differed in their content, the control program promoted language development through responsive adult–child interaction. Responsive interactions may have mediated children’s aggressive behaviors by improving their
Copyright # 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1040-9289 print=1556-6935 online
DOI: 10.1080/10409281003668060
Training Early Childhood Educators to Promote Peer Interactions: Effects on Children’s Aggressive and
Prosocial Behaviors
Lisa-Christine Girard and Luigi Girolametto
Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto
Elaine Weitzman and Janice Greenberg
The Hanen Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Research Findings: This study examined the effects of educators’ participation in an in-service training program on the aggressive and prosocial behaviors of preschool-age children. Seventeen early childhood educators were randomly assigned to experimental and …show more content…
Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore whether an in-service education program designed to facilitate positive peer interactions would reduce the aggressive behaviors and increase the prosocial behaviors of preschool children during small-group play interactions. Preschool aggression can take various forms, including relational, physical, or verbal aggression. The current study focuses on physical and verbal aggression used by preschoolers in small-group interactions because these two forms of aggression have been shown to occur most frequently in toddlers and preschool-age children (Tremblay, Gervais, & Petitclerc,
2008). Developmentally speaking, physical and verbal aggression peak by the age of 3 and typically decline by the age of 5 as young children gain higher level skills in language development, perspective taking, and emotional regulation, which help to control aggression (Tremblay et al., 2008).
However, children’s sustained use of aggressive behaviors during early childhood increases the risk that these negative behaviors may stabilize across time if no corrective interventions are used to address them
(Persson, 2005). Longitudinal studies suggest that early and …show more content…
None of the children in this sample met or exceeded these levels of aggression in the 30 min of observation.
An alternative explanation for the observed low rates of aggressive behavior may be that the small-group interactions provided sufficient individualized attention from the educators, making behavior management easier
(e.g., Wasik, 2008). In small groups, educators can attend to children more quickly, anticipate their needs, and respond to their requests more efficiently than in larger groups. Consequently, this methodological feature may have reduced the overall incidence of aggressive behaviors (Maccoby, 1990). To measure the success of this in-service training in decreasing aggressive behaviors, the current study needs to be replicated using a sample of children identified as aggressive.
Another potential explanation for the lack of significant findings for aggression pertains to the nature of the in-service education program used for the control group. Although experimental and control programs differed in their content, the control program promoted language development through responsive adult–child interaction. Responsive interactions may have mediated children’s aggressive behaviors by improving their