Aggressive children are more likely to require school-based and clinical interventions than children with other mental disorders.

Numerous scientific reports based on clinical medical and psychological studies, surveys, interviews with children, parents, caregivers, and teachers, as well as expert opinions, highlight the strong negative impact of aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents on both peers and adults.

For this reason, it is extremely important to define and conduct a clinical-developmental analysis—identifying risk factors and protective factors—and to classify aggressive behaviors in order to create an effective, comprehensive treatment plan.

The concept of aggression encompasses all behaviors:

  • verbal,
  • physical,

intended to harm other people and/or damage objects. 

Key elements of the definition include the intent to cause harm, the harm itself, and acting under duress in social interactions.

The spectrum of aggressive behaviors is very broad and includes:

  • actions in both the psychological and physical spheres,
  • ranging from teasing, name-calling, exclusion, threats, and harassment all the way to physical violence—from shoving and pushing to assault, bodily injury,
  • and, in extreme cases, causing serious injury or even death.

Clinically, several basic terms are used to describe aggressive behaviors: anger, hostility, aggression, aggressiveness, coercion, and violence.

  1. Anger is an innate emotion, a physiological arousal that triggers a response in situations of stress, frustration, and threat. It forms the basis of aggressive behaviors. Neurophysiologically, it is responsible for the fight response in the “fight-or-flight” mechanism.
  2. Hostility is a component of human personality characterized by a negative attitude toward others. It is marked by anger, negativity in judgments, and suspicion.
  3. Aggressiveness is a personality trait that indicates a person’s constant readiness to react aggressively. Aggression is behavior intended to cause physical or psychological harm to another person. It can also be directed toward other living beings or inanimate objects.
  4. Aggression directed toward oneself is called autoaggression.
  5. Coercion is the pursuit of power and control over others,
  6. Violence includes extremely aggressive behaviors that cause significant harm; it is an extreme form of aggression that goes far beyond social norms.

Aggression aims to destroy, punish, and control the victim. There are several scientific theories that explain the underlying causes of aggression, such as:

  • the frustration-aggression theory,
  • the psychoanalytic theory,
  • the social learning theory,
  • the cognitive-behavioral model,
  • and the stress-vulnerability model.

Author:
Marta Czubaj-Kowal, M.D., Ph.D. - Pediatrician, Specialist in Pediatric Diseases, Specialist in Cardiology, Head of the Pediatric Ward at the Stefan Żeromski Specialist Hospital in Kraków