Questions that apply to all articles

How does a child’s environment influence their behavior?

How do interpersonal relationships influence a child’s development?

Liddell, C., Kvalsvig, J., Qotyana, P., & Shabalala, A. (1994). Community Violence and Young South African Children's Involvement in Aggression. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 17(4): 613–628.

Five-year-old children from four different communities in South Africa were observed during their everyday patterns of play and social participation. The communities differed in terms of the levels of community violence that researchers encountered during two years of data collection. The results indicated that children from more violent communities were significantly more likely to be involved in aggressive episodes, and that this was particularly so in cases where children had more contact with older boys and men. The predictive model for involvement in aggression, as developed in this study, illustrates the importance of combining demographic variables with variables pertaining to children's actual behavior. The results are also discussed in terms of their implications for young South African children; although growing up in violent communities is associated with greater involvement in aggressive behavior, the degree to which this can be considered seriously pathological is called into question by some of the results.

• What differences in communities influence aggressive behaviors?

Allen, J. R., & Allen, B. A. (2000). Violence: Early Childhood, Family, and Context. Transactional Analysis, 30(2): 111-124.

Violence is multidetermined, the outcome of individual, family, and cultural factors. This article draws attention to the importance of some basic functions of the living organism that can lead to aggression and violence as well as the processes of internalization, reenactment, poor problem solving, and societal narrative. It also presents an expanded conceptualization of discounting and passivity. Because early-onset violence has been shown to have a poorer prognosis than violence that begins later in life, emphasis is placed on early childhood. The article ends with a typology of prevention and control.

• Why is important to study how violence affects young children?

Landy, S. & Menna, R. (2001). Play Between Aggressive Young Children and Their Mothers. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 6(2): 223–239.

There is a growing number of preschoolers presenting to clinics with high levels of aggression. These children are at risk of developing conduct disorder, especially when the symptoms are severe. Treatment for older children with aggressive symptoms has often relied on teaching their parents behavior management techniques and has ignored affective and relationship issues. After presenting observations of the play interactions of aggressive preschoolers with their mothers and other relevant research findings, this article explores important aspects of the parent-child interaction and affective relationship. These aspects include the mother's difficulty in tolerating and modulating the child's negative affect, reluctance to enter the play metaphor and failure to gradually move aggressive play to more pro-social themes. The importance of these interactions and affective relationship aspects and their contribution to the child's difficulty are discussed in light of their implications for treatment. Also, suggestions are made for caregivers working with these children to help them self-regulate and acquire appropriate cognitive strategies to contain the negative affects.

• As a social worker, what key information would you give to a mother to help with her aggressive child?

Connell-Carrick, K., & Scannapieco, M. (2006). Ecological Correlates of Neglect in Infants and Toddlers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 21(3): 299–316.

Infants and toddlers are more likely to be victims of neglect than any other form of maltreatment. Infants and toddlers are at highest risk of fatality because of maltreatment and experience behavioral, social, academic, medical, and cognitive consequences of neglect during their most formative years. Within an ecological framework, this study examines the correlates of the substantiation of neglect in children 0 to 36 months of age. Using an ex post facto design and a random sample of 148 child protective services cases, bivariate analysis revealed significant differences in families who were substantiated for neglect in the areas of child characteristics, home environment, social environment, caregiver, and maltreatment situations. Multivariate analysis found children who were substantiated for neglect were exposed to greater environmental dangers and had caregivers who had poor parenting skills. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

• As a child welfare worker, what key risk factors would you be looking for to identify and/or prevent child neglect?