Work

Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior.

Year: 1997

Type: article

Abstract: Normative beliefs have been defined as self-regulating beliefs about the appropriateness of social behaviors. In 2 studies the authors revised their scale for assessing normative beliefs about aggression, found that it is reliable and valid for use with elementary school children, and investigated the longitudinal relation between normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior in a large sample of elementary school children living in poor urban neighborhoods. Using data obtained in 2 waves of observations 1 year apart, the authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. More important, although individual differences in aggressive behavior predicted subsequent differences in normative beliefs in younger children, individual differences in aggressive behavior were predicted by preceding differences in normative beliefs in older children.

Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.408

Authors: L. Rowell Huesmann, Nancy G. Guerra

Institution: University of Michigan

Language: English

Topic: Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Public Health Service, National Institute of Mental Health