title: Observation of early childhood physical aggression: a psychometric study of the system for coding early physical aggression.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. mesmanj@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
authors.forename: Judi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mesman
authors.forename: Lenneke R A
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Alink
authors.forename: Jantien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Zeijl
authors.forename: Mirjam N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Stolk
authors.forename: Marian J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bakermans-Kranenburg
authors.forename: Marinus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van Ijzendoorn
authors.forename: Femmie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Juffer
authors.forename: Hans M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Koot
mesh_terms: 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*