Word: behavior
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Given the overwhelming slate of potential harm, the aim of the study was to identify early predictors of victimization, along with behavioral interventions that may prevent it. The bulk of past research on the matter involved primary-school-age children, says Michel Boivin, a psychologist at Université Laval in Québec, Canada, and a co-author of the study; the new research tracks behavior in very young kids - as early as those in pre-preschool, when children first begin interacting with one another socially...
Researchers found several key factors that predicted a child's risk of future victimization - namely, physically aggressive behavior in the child, harsh parenting methods (like "overly punitive" responses to kids' bad behavior) and low socio-economic status. The best predictor, the study concluded, was early childhood physical aggression. "If a child is aggressive at 2 years of age, he's more likely to be in the higher-increasing trajectory," Boivin said. "If, in addition, the mother is hostile and reactive, the prediction risk increases." Adding the third element, low socio-economic status, increases that likelihood even further...
...careful to distinguish aggression from hyperactivity in children. While hyperactivity also often causes social problems and increases a child's risk of being victimized by about second grade, the authors did not find that it predicted peer victimization in young children. Rather, it was physical aggression in early childhood - behavior such as kicking, biting and bullying - that increased a child's odds of becoming a victim of that same behavior later...
Identifying risk factors in preschool or even earlier helps parents and school administrators step in earlier too. Children who exhibit aggressive behavior can be counseled earlier, for example, and harsh parents can be taught a gentler form of discipline. The authors say further study is needed to answer questions of cause and effect. For instance, does children's aggressive behavior prompt harsh parenting or vice versa? And what about the role of older siblings? Psychologists know that older siblings often victimize their younger brothers and sisters, sometimes to great detriment; studying these family dynamics may help parents protect younger siblings...
...prices and a falling euro, for instance, would have been considered generally good developments only a few months ago. Yet markets are so spooked that they're driving indexes into the ground and thereby increasing the chance of general economic contamination. "We're back to the most basic behavior of stock markets: people buy when they see everyone else buying, and they sell when everyone else is selling," says Naudé. "Confidence is gone despite the generally quick and positive intervention by governments...