Causes and Consequences of Aggression in Early Childhood - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal Causes and Consequences of Aggression in Early Childhood There are a number of issues that have not been answered in the sources that have been retrieved in relation to causes and consequences of aggression in early childhood. This has brought about various questions that may need to be answered in a bid to ensure the research on this subject matter is fully completed. One of the issues that are not addressed in relation to the aspect of dominance and its relation to the development of aggressive behavior in children is the understanding of dominance as a social aspect in interactive activities.

The strive for dominance amongst children must be for a reason and this can only be answered if one is able to familiarize themselves with the children’s understanding of dominance. The importance of dominance to a child is also something that will need to be studied as well. That is to say, how much does a child value the attainment of a dominant position over theirpeers? This will help in discovering how far one is willing to go to maintain this dominance. The higher the valuation of this dominance the higher the level of aggression is likely to be in a child as they will be more established to make certain that they do not lose this influence over the other children.

With regard to parenting and the various techniques and responses implemented by the parents in relation to curbing the aggression in good time also fails in determining whether a lack of unification between the parents will affect the success of these endeavors. That is to say, whether a disagreement between the parents about the best way to go about dealing with the situation of an aggressive child will affect the success of these techniques or as long as one parent implements the methods, the results will remain the same.

The issue of the environment that the child is living in is also another issue that has not been addressed. The nature of the environment that surrounds a child will more than likely have an impact on issues such as the level of aggression that they develop and despite the methods suggested and other factors that play into this development, it can be said that this is a facet that cannot be ignored as well. In this case the environment will be made up of areas such as the neighborhood in which they reside in as well as their domestic setting.

In relation to exposure of media, other forms apart from the television need to be concentrated on such as the radio and in older children, the print media as well in the form of comics and other literature. My research proposal consists of discovering the relation between a child’s environments in relation to the development of aggressive behavior. This is important because only by studying the various environments that a child is placed will one be able to understand their frame of thought and sources of influence which can be considered to be the chief source of aggressive behavior.

The experiment will be setup based on a number environmental settings that will be taken into consideration which include the domestic (home), academic (School) and community (neighborhood) setting. Information will need to be gathered on the activities and interactions of the children in these different settings to determine the areas that hold the most influence in a child’s behavioral development. The participants of the research will consist of children aged between 3 to 12 years ofage which can be regarded as the period of early childhood when are most impressionable.

The financial background will also be taken into consideration as well meaning the sample participants will be taken from different areas to ensure there are a variety of children to be chosen from. The participants can be chosen from the random sampling method to ensure everyone has an equal chance of being chosen for the research. The children will be picked from a number of schools located in different areas (some in affluent areas located in suburbia and others in less affluent regions). These schools can be divided according to their financial status and grouped into two after which random sampling can also be used to choose those that will participate.

The mode of data collection will include a number of activities to ensure that as much is retrieved as possible and will require the assistance of both the parents as well as the school administrations that are involved in the research. First interviews will be held with the children that are participating after which a number of changes will be made to the environment that they are situated such as the frequency of their exposure to the media and the parenting techniques. The children will then be interviewed again to note any changes in their behavior and perceptions on matters such as dominance.

Secondary data can also be collected from the schools’ records such as disciplinary records of the children that are involved in the research to determine their overall behavior with their peers. Questionnaires can be handed out to the parents with queries about the child’s behavior while at home. The questions can be based on issues such as the modes of punishment used by the parents and the child’s reaction to these punishments. Finally observation can be used to collect data. With the parent’s and school’s consent the researcher can spend a few hours each day observing the children from a distance preferably without their knowledge of your activity so as to note their activities for oneself.

References Alink, Lenneke R. A.; Mesman, Judi; Van Zeijl, Jantien; Stolk, Mirjam N.; Juffer, Femmie; Koot, Hans M.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Van IJzendoorn, Marinus H. (2006). The Early Childhood Aggression Curve: Development of Physical Aggression in 10- to 50-Month-Old Children. Child Development 77 (4) Alink, Lenneke R. A.; Mesman, Judi; van Zeijl, Jantien; Stolk, MirjamJuffer, Femmie; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.; Koot, Hans M. (2009) Maternal Sensitivity Moderates the Relation between Negative Discipline and Aggression in Early Childhood.

Social Development 18 (1) Brotman, Laurie Miller; O'Neal, Colleen R.; Keng-Yen Huang; Gouley, Kathleen Kiely; Rosenfelt, Amanda; Shrout, Patrick E. (2009). Aggression. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 50 (3). Giles, Jessica W.; Heyman, Gail D. (2004) Conceptions of aggression and withdrawal in early childhood. Infant & Child Development 13 (5). Hanish, Laura D. Sallquist, Julie DiDonato, Matthew Fabes, Richard A. Martin, Carol Lynn. (2012). Aggression by whom-aggression toward whom: behavioral predictors of same- and other-gender aggression in early childhood.

Developmental Psychology, 48(5). Murray-Close, Dianna; Ostrov, Jamie M. (2009) A Longitudinal Study of Forms and Functions of Aggressive Behavior in Early Childhood. Child Development 80 (3). Ostrov, Jamie M.; Gentile, Douglas A.; Crick, Nicki R. (2006) Media Exposure, Aggression and Prosocial Behavior DuringEarlyChildhood: A Longitudinal Study. Social Development 15 (4). Ostrov, Jamie M.; Ries, Emily E.; Stauffacher, Kirstin; Godleski, Stephanie A.; Mullins, Adam D.(2008) Relational Aggression, Physical Aggression and Deception During EarlyChildhood: A Multimethod, Multi-informant Short-Term Longitudinal Study.

Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology 37 (3). Seguin, Jean R.; Parent, Sophie; Tremblay, Richard E.; Zelazo, Philip David. (2009). Different neurocognitive functions regulating physical aggression and hyperactivity in early childhood. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 50 (6). Tremblay, Richard E.; Nagin, Daniel S.; Seguin, Jean R.; Zoccolillo, Mark; Zelazo, Philip D.; Boivin, Michel; Perusse, Daniel; Japel, Christa. (2004). Physical Aggression DuringEarlyChildhood: Trajectories and Predictors.

Pediatrics 114 (1).