Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior.

Normative beliefs have been defined as self-regulating beliefs about the appropriateness of social behaviors. In 2 studies the authors revised their scale for assessing normative beliefs about aggression, found that it is reliable and valid for use with elementary school children, and investigated the longitudinal relation between normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior in a large sample of elementary school children living in poor urban neighborhoods. Using data obtained in 2 waves of observations 1 year apart, the authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. More important, although individual differences in aggressive behavior predicted subsequent differences in normative beliefs in younger children, individual differences in aggressive behavior were predicted by preceding differences in normative beliefs in older children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noise of a single-ion frequency standard

A frequency source supposed to serve as a standard requires feedback for short-term and long-term frequency control. A spectral discriminant for short-term control may be provided, in the microwave regime, by a hyperfine resonance of a multi-ion ensemble confined in an electrodynamic trap, and in the optical regime by an eigenmode of a focal Fabry-Pérot cavity. For long-term frequency control, resonances of single trapped ions are discriminants of superior accuracy although the controlled frequency shows random fluctuations caused by noise on the feedback signal. Its fundamental contribution is quantum projection noise. The detection of fluorescence for the generation of feedback is incompatible with the ions being prepared in a superposition state in the excitation by the wave emitted from the oscillator. Attempts of circumventing this limitation by preparing ensembles of correlated ions prior to the measurement (spin squeezing) are reviewed.     

Age trends in the development of aggression, sex typing, and related television habits.

Conducted a 3-yr longitudinal study with 2 large samples of elementary school youngsters overlapping in 1 grade (N?=?672, 607, and 505 for each successive year). It was thus possible to trace developmental trends from Grades 1 to 5 on the following variables: aggression, frequency of TV viewing, extent of violence viewed on TV, judged realism of TV programs, and preference for masculine, feminine, or neutral activities. Data support the theory that there is a sensitive period during which the effect of TV can be especially influential on children's behavior. Further, since the correlation between violence viewing and aggression tends to increase until age 10–21 yrs, a cumulative effect beyond the sensitive period is suggested. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring patterns of fantasy behavior in children.

Developed the Children's Fantasy Inventory using 748 1st and 3rd graders. Within the limits of a 45-item instrument relevant to the children's attention span, a wide range of fantasy activity was tapped. The 9 empirically derived, nonorthogonal scales had good internal consistency, as measured by coefficient alpha, and good test–retest reliabilities. The scales on the Children's Fantasy Inventory were related to other previously used measures of fantasy in children and to previously derived adult scales. Differences in styles of fantasy were found between boys and girls and between 1st and 3rd graders, but there were no significant differences in overall frequency of fantasy. Retesting after a year's lag indicated that fantasy behaviors had significant stability over time. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of aggression over time and generations.

In a study spanning 22 years, data were collected on the aggressiveness of over 600 subjects, their parents, and their children. Subjects who were the more aggressive 8-year-olds at the beginning of the study were discovered to be the more aggressive 30-year-olds at the end of the study. The stability of aggressive behavior was shown to be very similar to the stability of intellectual competence, especially for males. Early aggressiveness was predictive of later serious antisocial behavior, including criminal behavior, spouse abuse, traffic violations, and self-reported physical aggression. Furthermore, the stability of aggression across generations within a family when measured at comparable ages was even higher than the within individual stability across ages. It is concluded that, whatever its causes, aggression can be viewed as a persistent trait that may be influenced by situational variables but possesses substantial cross-situational constancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children.

Examined 3 factors that were hypothesized to increase risk for aggression among urban children: economic disadvantage, stressful events, and individual beliefs. Ss were 1,935 African American, Hispanic, and White elementary-school boys and girls assessed over a 2-yr period. Individual poverty (INP) and aggression were only significant for the White Ss, with significant interactions between individual and community poverty for the other 2 ethnic groups. A linear structural model to predict aggression from the stress and beliefs variables, INP predicted stress for African American Ss and predicted beliefs supporting aggression for Hispanic Ss. For all ethnic groups, both stress and beliefs contributed significantly to the synchronous prediction of aggression, and for the Hispanic children, the longitudinal predictions were also significant. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for preventive interventions in multiethnic, inner-city communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring children's aggression with teachers' predictions of peer nominations.

Peer nominations have been used very successfully to assess aggressive dispositions in children but are costly to administer in situations in which a subject population is scattered among many classrooms. In the present study, the authors evaluated an alternative measure, the Teacher Prediction of Peer-Nominated Aggression. This measure proved to be highly reliable and valid—a better predictor of peer nominations of aggression than teacher checklist ratings of aggression. The teachers' predictions of peer-nominated aggression also displayed the same pattern of interrelations and gender differences as actual peer nominations of aggression. Finally, the teachers' predictions of aggression were more accurate than their predictions of other behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of family relationship characteristics: A measure to explain risk for antisocial behavior and depression among urban youth.

Two large samples of urban families were used to develop and cross-validate an assessment model and a measure to tap basic family processes and risk among diverse ethnic groups. Six scales (Cohesion, Beliefs About Family, Deviant Beliefs, Organization, Support, and Communication) produced a 3-dimension higher order factor model (Cohesion, Structure, and Beliefs). Tests support reliance on composite family scoring. Most scales and each higher order factor relate to depression, and aggression. Relations vary little by age, ethnicity, marital status of parent, or family income. Implications for family assessment methodology and risk models are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does television violence cause aggression?

In a previous study 3rd graders who preferred violent TV programs were rated more aggressive in school by peers. In a 10-yr follow-up, 211 males and 216 females of the original 875 Ss were interviewed as to their television habits and again rated their peers on aggressive behavior. It was found that the violence of programs preferred by male 3rd graders was even more strongly related to aggression 10 yr. later. Cross-lagged correlations, partial correlations, and multiple regression indicate a probable causative influence of watching violent TV programs in early formative years on later aggression. Although TV violence was not the only cause of aggressive behavior, its effect was relatively independent and explained a larger proportion of variance than any other single factor studied, e.g., IQ, social status, ethnicity, and parental disharmony. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)