Aggressive Behavior of Elementary School Kids

Types of Aggression

• Typical patterns of aggressive behavior in elementary school children include over-aroused aggression, impulsive aggression, affective aggression, predatory aggression and instrumental aggression, according to Education.com. Children who are over-aroused may not select their victims, but may push or shove indiscriminately in aggressive incidents. Impulse aggression is characterized by sudden outbursts when the child is frustrated. Children with affective aggression tend to be chronically angry, resentful and hostile. Predatory aggression is revengeful -- the child is trying to get back at someone. Bullies who use intimidation are typical of the instrumental aggressor.

Schools and Aggressive Behavior

• Children in schools or classrooms that include many aggressive peers are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior themselves, according to a June 2006 study published by the University of Pennsylvania. Large urban schools that served socioeconomically disadvantaged children were more likely to present an aggressive environment. Risky or dangerous neighborhoods flanking the school also had an impact on aggressive behavior of children who attended the school. African American children who attended such schools seemed to be more likely to be affected, and the longer a child attended such a school, the more likely he was to display aggressive behavior.

Managing Behavior in Schools

• Teachers and principals in elementary schools spend a great deal of time managing violent and aggressive behavior, according to ̶0;Defusing Violent Behavior in Young Children: An Ounce of Prevention: Information for School Principals,̶1; from the American Association of School Psychologists. The article notes that the causes of this trend may include family and societal factors, an increase in psychiatric disorders in children and a lack of social development time in the early elementary classroom. If not addressed in the early stages during preschool and the elementary grades, these behaviors can become ingrained. The article notes that often the problem is related to children̵7;s lack of social skills.

Factors in Aggression

• Although many children may be aggressive at some stage in their development or under provocation, a child who displays aggressive behavior on a regular basis may have been ̶0;trained̶1; to do so by parents who use harsh disciplinary measures or who fail to supervise their children̵7;s interactions with others, according to Education.com. Adults who engage in verbal or physical abuse toward one another also teach their children that such behavior is acceptable. Media violence can also cause children to become desensitized to violence and to perpetuate that behavior in the assumption that it is normal.

Aggression and Reading

• Aggressive behavior is also related to school performance, according to a January 2006 study reported in ̶0;Child Development.̶1; The results of the study, which followed children from kindergarten through fifth grade, suggest that there is a connection between social skills, language skills and aggressive behavior. Researchers found that children who do not read well in the early years of elementary school are also more likely to be reported as aggressive by their teachers as they get older. Those children who have good social skills when they are kindergarteners and first graders, however, are more likely to be good readers and less aggressive in third grade.