Longitudinal study of children’s aggressive behavior, and it’s relations to individual and contextual factors

Abstract

ABSTRACT Self-regulation forms the rudiments for children’s academic achievement and socialization. Although one’s executive control and verbal skills are needed in both of the core aspects for academic performance: processing to regulate one’s own learning and behavior, young students’ cognitive capacity for that is still immature influencing the “right response” execution. This longitudinal study investigates children’s deviant self-regulation, aggression, in two reciprocal relations: (1) individual cognitive factors (2) classroom-contextual factors. Results show the persistence of aggression over time; in aggressive students also lower verbal and executive function skills in Grade 6, while no classroom-contextual relations were detected. This indicates the need to identify as early as possible the pupils performing poorly in cognitive tasks in order to implement specific scaffold-interventions to enhance their processing skills – fundamental for efficient executive control. By doing so, we can prevent possible later complications and improve those pupils’ basic functions early on to regulate their learning and execute appropriate behavior. Human cognition is an entire and interdependent system enabled by our undivided mental mechanism needed for making relevant conclusions as well as shaping appropriate behavior to become a responsibly thinking and dignified member of society.