Contemporary research on the development and prevention of aggressive behavior in childhood and adolescence emphasizes the importance of social-cognitive factors such as perceptual biases, problem-solving skills, and social-moral beliefs in the maintenance of aggression. Indeed, school-based social-cognitive intervention approaches have been identified as best practices by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, because child age is an important covariate of both intervention effectiveness and social-cognitive ability, school-based prevention program designers should keep in mind a number of issues identified through developmental research. In this paper, we review the social-cognitive model of aggressive behavior development as applied to prevention programming. We then discuss some of the ways in which the broader developmental research base can inform the design of aggression prevention programs.
Editors' Strategic Implications: Educational administrators and policy makers will find evidence in this review that school-based programs that employ a social-cognitive model represent a strategy that works for preventing violence. Prevention researchers will also benefit from the authors' insights regarding theoretical mediating processes and the importance of a developmental view.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Acosta, O. M., Albus, K. E., Reynolds, M. W., Spriggs, D., & Weist, M. D. (2001). Assessing the status of research on violence related problems among youth. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 152–160.
Anderson, C. A., & Huesmann, L. R. (2003). Human aggression: A social-cognitive view. In M. A. Hogg & J. Cooper (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of social psychology (pp. 296–323). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Arsenio, W. F., & Kramer, R. (1992). Victimizers and their victims: Children's conceptions of mixed emotional consequences of moral transgressions. Child Development, 63, 915–927.
Berndt, T. J. (1982). The features and effects of friendship in early adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1447–1460.
Berndt, T. J., & Hoyle, S. G. (1985). Stability and change in childhood and adolescent friendships. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1007–1015.
Boxer, P., & Dubow, E. F. (2002). A social-cognitive information-processing model for school-based aggression reduction and prevention programs: Issues for research and practice. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 10, 177–192.
Broidy, L. M., Nagin, D. S., Tremblay, R. E., Bates, J. E., Brame, B., Dodge, K. A., et al. (2003). Developmental trajectories of childhood disruptive behaviors and adolescent delinquency: A six-site, cross-national study. Developmental Psychology, 39, 222–245.
Buhrmester, D. (1990). Intimacy of friendship, interpersonal competence, and adjustment during preadolescence and adolescence. Child Development, 61, 1101–1111.
Chandler, K. A., Chapman, C. D., Rand, M. R., & Taylor, B. M. (1998). Students' reports of school crime: 1989 and 1995. Washington, DC: U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.
Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999). Initial impact of the Fast Track Prevention Trial for conduct problems: II. Classroom effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 648–657.
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101.
Crisafi, M. A., & Brown, A. L. (1986). Analogical transfer in very young children: Combining two separately learned solutions to reach a goal. Child Development, 57, 953–968.
Derryberry, D., & Rothbart, M. K. (1997). Reactive and effortful processes in the organization of temperament. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 633–652.
Dodge, K. A. (1980). Social cognition and children's aggressive behavior. Child Development, 51, 162–170.
Dubow, E. F., & Reid, G. J. (1994). Risk and resource variables in children's aggressive behavior: A two-year longitudinal study. In L.R. Huesmann (Ed.), Aggressive behavior: Current perspectives (pp. 187–214). New York: Plenum.
Egan, S. K., Monson, T. C., & Perry, D. G. (1998). Social-cognitive influences on change in aggression over time. Developmental Psychology, 34, 996–1006.
Eron, L. D., Lefkowitz, M. M., & Walder, L. O. (1971). Learning of aggression in children. Boston: Little, Brown.
Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Nyman, M., & Michealieu, Q. (1991). Young children's appraisals of others' spontaneous emotional reactions. Developmental Psychology, 27, 858–866.
Farrell, A. D., Ampy, L. A., & Meyer, A. L. (1998). Identification and assessment of problematic interpersonal situations for urban adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 293–305.
Farrell, A. D., Meyer, A. L., Kung, E. M., & Sullivan, T. N. (2001). Development and evaluation of school-based prevention programs. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 207–220.
Feinman, S. (1992). Social referencing and the social construction of reality in infancy. New York: Plenum.
Feiring, C. (1996). Concepts of romance in 15-year-old adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 181–200.
Flavell, J. H., Friedrichs, A. G., & Hoyt, J. D. (1970). Developmental changes in memorization processes. Cognitive Psychology, 1, 324–340.
Furman, W., & Wehner, E. A. (1994). Romantic views: Toward a theory of adolescent romantic relationships. In R. Montemayor, G. R. Adams, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Advances in adolescent development, Vol. 6: Relationships during adolescence: Developmental perspectives (pp. 21–36). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gnepp, J., & Klayman, J. (1992). Recognition of uncertainty in emotional inferences: Reasoning about emotionally equivocal situations. Developmental Psychology, 28, 145–158.
Gopnik, A., & Meltzoff, A. N. (1994). Minds, bodies, and persons: Young children's understanding of the self and others as reflected in imitation and theory of mind research. In S. T. Parker (Ed.), Self-awareness in animals and humans: Developmental perspectives (pp. 166–186). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Guerra, N. G., Huesmann, L. R., & Spindler, A. (2003). Community violence exposure, social cognition, and aggression among urban elementary-school children. Child Development, 74 1561–1577.
Guerra, N. G., & Slaby, R. G. (1990). Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: 2. Intervention. Developmental Psychology, 26, 269–277.
Hale, S. (1990). A global developmental trend in cognitive processing speed. Child Development, 61, 653–663.
Harnishfeger, K. K., & Pope, R. S. (1996). Intending to forget: The development of cognitive inhibition in directed forgetting. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 62, 292–315.
Hartup, W. W. (1992). Friendships and their developmental significance. In H. McGurk (Ed.), Childhood social development: Contemporary perspectives (pp. 175–205). Hove, England: Erlbaum.
Harvey, R. J., Fletcher, J., & French, D. J. (2001). Social reasoning: A source of influence on aggression. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 447–469.
Hoffner, C., & Badzinski, D. M. (1989). Children's integration of facial and situational cues to emotion. Child Development, 60, 411–422.
Holyoak, K. J., & Thagard, P. (1995). Mental leaps. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hudley, C., Britsch, B., Wakefield, W. D., Smith, T., Demorat, M., & Cho, S. (1998). An attribution retraining program to reduce aggression in elementary school students. Psychology in the Schools, 35, 271–282.
Huesmann, L. R. (1998). The role of social information processing and cognitive schema in the acquisition and maintenance of habitual aggressive behavior. In R. G. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Human aggression: Theories, research, and implications for social policy (pp. 73–109). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Huesmann, L. R., Dubow, E. F., Eron, L. D., & Boxer, P. (in press). Middle childhood family-contextual and personal factors as predictors of adult outcomes. In A. Huston & M. Ripke (Eds.), Middle childhood: Contexts of development. UK: Cambridge.
Huesmann, L. R., Eron, L. D., Klein, R., Brice, P., & Fischer, P. (1983). Mitigating the imitation of aggressive behaviors by changing children's attitudes about media violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 899–910.
Huesmann, L. R., & Guerra, N. G. (1997). Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 408–419.
Huesmann, L. R., & Reynolds, M. A. (2001). Cognitive processes and the development of aggression. In A. C. Bohart & D. J. Stipek (Eds.), Constructive and destructive behavior: Implications for family, school, and society (pp. 249–269). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Human Capital Initiative. (1996). Reducing violence: A research agenda. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Hunter, L., Elias, M. J., & Norris, J. (2001). School-based violence prevention: Challenges and lessons learned from an action research project. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 161–175.
Kail, R. (1986). Sources of age differences in speed of processing. Child Development, 57, 969–987.
Kingery, P. M., Coggeshall, M. B., & Alford, A. A. (1998). Violence at school: Recent evidence from four national surveys. Psychology in the Schools, 35, 247–258.
Klahr, D. (1985). Solving problems with ambiguous subgoal ordering: Preschoolers' performance. Child Development, 56, 940–952.
Klahr, D., & Robinson, M. (1981). Formal assessment of problem solving and planning processes in children. Cognitive Psychology, 13, 113–148.
Kochanska, G., Murray, K., Jacques, T. Y., Koenig, A. L., & Vandegeest, K. A. (1996). Inhibitory control in young children and its role in emerging internalization. Child Development, 67, 490–507.
Kuhn, D. (1999). Metacognitive development. In L. Balte & C. S. Tamis-Lemonda (Eds.), Child psychology: A handbook of contemporary issues (pp. 259–286). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
Leff, S. S., Costigan, T., & Power, T. J. (2004). Using participatory research to develop a playground-based prevention program. Journal of School Psychology, 42, 3–21.
Lochman, J. E., Lampron, L. B., Gemmer, T. C., & Harris, S. R. (1987). Anger coping intervention with aggressive children: A guide to implementation in school settings. In P. A. Keller & S. R. Heyman (Eds.), Innovations in clinical practice — A source book: Vol. 6 (pp. 339–356). Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Exchange.
Long, B. (1989). Heterosexual involvement of unmarried undergraduate females in relation to self-evaluations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 18, 489–469.
Magai, C., & McFadden, S. H. (1995). The role of emotions in social and personality development. New York: Plenum.
Metropolitan Area Child Study Research Group. (2002). A cognitive-ecological approach to preventing aggression in urban settings: Initial outcomes for high-risk children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 179–194.
Miller, P. H., & Seier, W. (1994). Strategy utilization deficiencies in children: When, where, and why. In H. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior: Vol. 25 (pp. 107–156). New York: Academic Press.
Padgham, J. J., & Blyth, D. A. (1991). Dating during adolescence. In R. M. Lerner, A. C., Peterson, & J. Brooks-Gunn (Eds.), Encyclopedia of adolescence (pp. 196–198). New York: Garland.
Patterson, C. J., & Mischel, W. (1976). Effects of temptation inhibiting and task facilitating plans on self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 209–217.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.
Rodkin, P. C., Farmer, T. W., Pearl, R., & Van Acker, R. (2000). Heterogeneity of popular boys: Antisocial and prosocial configurations. Developmental Psychology, 36, 14–24.
Rogers, M. J., & Tisak, M. S. (1996). Children's reasoning about responses to peer aggression: Victims' and witness's expected and prescribed behaviors. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 259–269.
Selman, R. (1980). The growth of interpersonal understanding: Developmental and clinical analyses. New York: Academic Press.
Smetana, J. G. (1994). Morality in context: Applying moral judgments to complex social issues. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of Child Development: Vol. 10 (pp. 83–100). London: Kingsley.
Surgeon General (2001). Youth violence: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Thornton, T. N., Craft, C. A., Dahlberg, L. L., Lynch, B. S., & Baer, K. (2000). Best practices of youth violence prevention: A sourcebook for community action. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tisak, M. S. (1995). Domains of social reasoning and beyond. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development: Vol. 11 (pp. 95–130). London: Kingsley.
Tolan, P. H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Loeber, R. (2000). Developmental timing and onsets of disruptive behaviors and later delinquency of inner-city youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 9, 203–220.
Tolan, P. H., Guerra, N. G., & Kendall, P. C. (1995). A developmental-ecological perspective on antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: Toward a unified risk and intervention framework. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 579–584.
Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Vurpillot, E. (1968). The development of scanning strategies and their relation to visual differentiation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 6, 632–650.
Wilson, S. J., Lipsey, M. W., & Derzon, J. H. (2003). The effects of school-based intervention programs on aggressive behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 136–149.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boxer, P., Goldstein, S.E., Musher-Eizenman, D. et al. Developmental Issues in School-Based Aggression Prevention from a Social-Cognitive Perspective. J Primary Prevent 26, 383–400 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-005-0005-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-005-0005-9