Citation

Del Vecchio T, O'leary SG. J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 2006; 35(2): 194-202.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. tamara.delvecchio@sunysb.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1207/s15374424jccp3502_3

PMID

16597215

Abstract

Aggression is stable as early as 2 years of age and predicts many negative adult outcomes. Although longitudinal predictors of child aggression have been identified, information is lacking regarding the proximal precursors of toddlers' aggression. During a 30-min interaction, 54 mother-toddler dyads were observed. Toddlers were categorized as aggressive or nonaggressive based on whether they exhibited aggression toward their mothers within the interaction. Most toddlers in both groups escalated from mild to more severe forms of misbehavior. Mothers of aggressive toddlers displayed more lax and over-reactive discipline when addressing misbehaviors that preceded aggression than did mothers of nonaggressive toddlers. Mothers of aggressive toddlers either ignored or attended neutrally or positively to the aggression. Implications for parenting interventions are discussed.

Language: en