lecture 2- aggression risk factors Flashcards
what are microdynamics?
things that happen in a childs environment, really close environments that can impact their behaviour and their ways of thinking. experiences that strengthen aggression over time. due to coercive parenting/ home life
what are mediators?
emotional, social cognitive, and self regulation mechanisms accounting for links between risk factors and aggression. due to child factors, temperament, emotion dysregulation, social information processing
aggression development-
interplay between intrapersonal and environmental factors
child temperament
- Tendency to respond in a certain way across situations.
=> Considered a precursor of personality. - Individual differences in temperament emerge very early and remain
relatively stable over time. - Five major attributes in babies:
=>Activity level; Irritability; Soothability; Fearfulness; Sociability. - “Difficult temperament” associated with higher rates of mother-child
conflict. Discipline techniques partly influenced by infant’s temperament, part
by parent’s temperament.
what are the clusters of temperament traits that raise the risk of aggression?
- tendency for dysregulated and negative emotional reactions
=> * Control of anger and frustration
is a major achievement in early
socialisation, by middle
childhood (6-12 years). - Reactive more than proactive
aggression - fearlessness, daring, sensation seeking.
- low prosociality
=> less respect for rules
-less empathy or care for others - less guilt
- proactive more than reactive
ostrov et al. (2023) child temperament
Ostrov et al. (2023) found emotion dysregulation to be a key risk factor in reactive and proactive physical and relational aggression.
* 300 children age 3-5 years in pre-school and
school, over 4 years.
* Free-play observations (trained researchers).
* Teacher ratings of: emotion dysregulation,
empathy, rules response, fearlessness & daring.
* Physiological (skin conductance, breathing-
resting state arousal)
what is emotional dysregulation?
inability to control and modulate emotional reactions, especially problematic when those behaviours violate social norms
what is the role of executive function (EF)
- Inhibition: restraint of motor or verbal responses.
- Working memory updating: hold and manipulate information over short periods of time.
- Shifting: alternate between mental rule states or tasks.
- Planning: goal-directed action.
development of prefrontal cortex- different EF functions develop at different rates/stages
child emotional dysregulation
EF deficits in early childhood correlate with increased risk of aggressive behaviours.
* Difficulties regulating behaviour, especially anger and irritation.
* Physical aggression mainly; relational findings mixed.
* Reactive more than proactive aggression (Rohlf et al., 2018).
* Impulsivity, lack of ability to plan and inhibit potent responses.
* Development of greater cognitive control in adolescence shown to protect against tendency for maladaptive anger responses
anger-induction study- two behaviour classifications
- Maladaptive: venting anger, focus
on the frustrating blocks. - Adaptive: solution seeking.
- More maladaptive anger correlated
with higher teacher ratings of physical
and relational aggression 6 months
and 2 years later. - Also predicted problems with friends.
Krahe (2020)
child social information processing (SIP)
Accurate processing of social information is crucial for human interaction and adequate socialization.
* understand others’ intent, emotions, messaging.
* take into account contextual factors.
* decide how to respond to them.
Problems arise when there misunderstanding.
Social Information Processing difficulties can make it hard for certain children to find non-aggressive solutions to problems (Dodge & colleagues).
SIP model
Reactive Aggressors:
* Stages 1 & 2.
* Expect intent was
negative (Hostile
Attribution Bias)
* Search and find social
cues to confirm this:
self-fulfilling cycle.
* Rapid angry response.
* Age-related.
Proactive Aggressors:
* Stages 4-6.
* Less expectation of
hostility.
* Logical assessment that
aggressive response would
be most effective.
* Confident of positive
outcome
Social Information Processing & Emotion
Dysregulation
SIP model originally developed within a social-cognitive framework.
Since»_space; Integrated model of SIP and emotion (Lemerise & Arsenio,
2000).
* Each step of the SIP model can be influenced by individual
differences emotionality (traits) and emotion regulation ability.
* Current emotional state may drive what social cues are more salient and how
they are interpreted.
* Overwhelmingly strong emotions that are hard to control can impair ability to
focus on alternative interpretations of and responses to a situation.
* Emotionality, inadequate emotion understanding, and poor emotion regulation
ability are associated with increased hostile attribution bias.
coercive home environment
Breeding grounds for aggression.
* Out of control behaviour, unruly, defiant.
* Atypical family environment.
* Social climate the child feeds into.
* Constant struggle and conflict.
* Little talk, mostly negative talk.
* Negative reinforcement maintains this environment.
Coercive Parenting
“Parenting styles act as a risk or a
protective factor for the
development of aggressive
behavior problems in children.”
(Rademacher et al., 2023)
what are the two dimensions of coercive parenting
- Parental Warmth: protective factor.
* Affection, support, and acceptance of the child’s experience and behaviour.
* Positive socio-emotional resources and role modelling. - Behaviour control/coercion: risk factor.
* Harsh and controlling, strict rules and punishments.
* Negative interactions promote antisocial behaviour, learned and transferred
outside the home
Parenting & Emotion Dysregulation
Coercive parenting associated with child emotion dysregulation.
- Strong regulation pressures from caregivers, fixed limits.
Rademachar et al. (2023) Recurring confrontation & negativity =>High negative
arousal in the child => Harder to learn and enact better controlled and non-aggressive
behaviours during challenging situations
- . Parental warmth promotes good emotion regulation development.
- Fosters trust, easier to regulate appropriately, psychological safety.
