Observation of early childhood physical aggression: a psychometric study of the system for coding early physical aggression.
We investigated the reliability and (convergent and discriminant) validity of an observational measure of physical aggression in toddlers and preschoolers, originally developed by Keenan and Shaw [1994]. The observation instrument is based on a developmental definition of aggression. Physical aggression was observed twice in a laboratory setting, the first time when children were 1-3 years old, and again 1 year later. Observed physical aggression was significantly related to concurrent mother-rated physical aggression for 2- to 4-year-olds, but not to maternal ratings of nonaggressive externalizing problems, indicating the measure's discriminant validity. However, we did not find significant 1-year stability of observed physical aggression in any of the age groups, whereas mother-rated physical aggression was significantly stable for all ages. The observational measure shows promise, but may have assessed state rather than trait aggression in our study.
Mesman
Judi
J
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. mesmanj@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Alink
Lenneke R A
LR
van Zeijl
Jantien
J
Stolk
Mirjam N
MN
Bakermans-Kranenburg
Marian J
MJ
van Ijzendoorn
Marinus H
MH
Juffer
Femmie
F
Koot
Hans M
HM
D000374:Aggression / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009426:Netherlands; D019370:Observation; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*