Affectional and Aggressive Behavior of Preschool Children1

Much has been learned about children's aggressive behavior (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12), but little is known about the behavior of young children which is friendly or affectional in nature, or the comparative frequency with which young children express affectional and aggressive behavior. The objectives of the present study were to compare with respect to age and sex: (a) the number of affectional and aggressive responses evidenced during self-directed activity periods in a nursery school-kindergarten setting, (b) the frequency with which preschool children initiated contacts by means of either affectional or aggressive behavior, and (c) the individuals (boys, girls, adults) chosen as the recipients of these contacts. Affectional behavior was defined in the present study as behavior directed toward another person which indicated warm regard, friendliness, sympathy, or helpfulness. Aggressive behavior was defined as an actual attack or threatened attack upon another person, whether it be by gesture or hostile or provocative language directed toward another child or adult (I). Affectional or aggressive behaviors directed toward objects or animals were not recorded. Nor was the component of behavior which is generally thought of as aggressiveness, i.e., behavior which involves self-assertiveness and the ability to make contacts, investigated in this study. Contacts and responses were differentiated in the present analysis depending upon when they occurred in an interaction sequence. If, for example, a given behavior were evidenced during an observation period after interaction between two or more persons was already in progress, the behavior was designated as a response. However, if an affectional or aggressive behavior were employed in order to initiate interaction with another person or persons it was designated as a contact. Thus, if a child praised another child during a play period during which interaction between the two chil-