Documenti di Didattica
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Richard e. Tremblay
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those most at risk of physically violent behavior aggression (see reference for Fig. 3). Indirect
during adolescence. aggression is probably the most frequent form of
Interestingly, while the frequency of physical aggression during adulthood. It has been shown to
aggression starts decreasing after the third or fourth be of frequent use in different workplace
year after birth, the frequency of indirect aggression environments, including universities!
(getting at others behind their back) increases
substantially from 4 to 7 years of age. However, Prosocial behavior
there is no evidence that indirect aggression Until recently very few studies had monitored
replaces physical aggression (Fig. 3). changes in prosocial behavior for long periods of
Once children have the cognitive abilities to use time during childhood and adolescence. A 1998
indirect aggression, they use both physical and review of age differences in frequency of prosocial
indirect aggression, or use either one or the other. A behaviors, based largely on cross-sectional data,
large survey of 8-, 11-, and 15-year-old boys and concluded that results differed depending on the
girls from Finland, Italy, Israel, and Poland (Fig. 4) type of behavior that was observed, but that overall
indicates that girls use indirect aggression more the frequency of prosocial behavior appeared to
often than verbal aggression or physical aggression, increase with age (Damon & Eisenberg, 1998).
while boys use it less. A longitudinal study of a large Recent analyses of helping behavior trajectories
population sample of Canadian children has with large samples of children, in Canada and Italy,
confirmed the female-male difference for indirect indicate that the frequency of these behaviors
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generally increases from 2 to 10–11 years of age,
but appears to level off during the elementary
school years, and then decrease during
adolescence. These analyses also confirmed results
from smaller studies suggesting that girls tend to
use prosocial behavior more often than boys from
infancy to adolescence (e.g. Côté, Tremblay,
Nagin et al., 2002). The period with the most
important increases in helping behaviors appears to
be the preschool years. It is not clear if the decrease
in helping behavior during the early part of
adolescence is followed by an increase during later
adolescence and adulthood.
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income, and poor parenting skills. Most of the individuals from birth to adulthood, and frequently
preceding physical and social environmental factors measure different forms of aggressive and prosocial
are linked to parental characteristics, and are behaviors.
obviously highly correlated. They are also correlated From an experimental perspective, we need to
with genetic factors and neighborhood factors such identify which factors influence the developmental
as poverty, violence, poorly performing schools, and trajectories of aggressive and prosocial behaviors.
deviant peers. Most studies have not been designed The best opportunities for experimental work in this
to take all these factors into account. area are preventive interventions. Well-designed
In summary, aggressive and prosocial behaviors preventive experiments are still needed to verify
are mutually exclusive only when an individual is such influences (Tremblay, 2003).
observed at a given point in time. Interactions Sex differences in aggressive and prosocial
between two individuals can show a sequence of behaviors offer an exceptional opportunity to
aggressive and prosocial behaviors by the same investigate genetic and environmental effects. By
person. From a developmental perspective, children including females and males in longitudinal-
appear with age to learn to help others and not to experimental studies to address the questions
physically aggress. Those who do not learn to inhibit described above, we should be able to obtain more
physical aggression are at high risk of being adequate answers to long-standing questions about
excluded. Although most children learn to fit in their sex differences in the development of these
social environment, socialization is a thin veneer behaviors.
that can always crack under stress. Thus, despite Preventive experiments will help answer these
the fact that individual differences in frequency of questions if they are planned accordingly.
aggressive and prosocial behaviors are relatively Investigators in this area of research need to
stable over time, highly prosocial individuals will increase the level of interdisciplinary and
resort to aggression when needed, and individuals international collaborations. Future studies should
with a history of frequent physical aggression can be large scale longitudinalexperimental multisite
make frequent use of prosocial behaviors. Many risk international studies that assess genetic and
factors have been identified, but none have been environmental factors, including both physical and
clearly shown to have causal effects, mostly social environments.
because of a lack of experimental studies.
Conclusions
From a descriptive perspective, we need to
understand better how different forms of aggressive
and prosocial behaviors develop from early
childhood to adolescence, and to what extent these
two types of behaviors are associated over time. Do
most individuals start life with relatively high levels
of physical aggression, and low levels of prosocial
behavior and become adults with relatively high
levels of prosocial behavior and low levels of
physical aggression? How many individuals
maintain high levels of aggressive and prosocial
behaviors throughout their lives? To answer such
questions, we need to follow large samples of