Social Learning and Aggressive and Playful Behaviors of Pre-school Boys

We investigated the interaction between social learning factors measured by questionnaires and aggressive and playful behaviors of pre-school children, through direct observation during their playful break time. The subjects were 15 boys between four and six years old who were enrolled in a non-profit child care center in Goiania-GO, Brazil. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant effects of aggressive models at home on aggression levels during playful behavior. Children exposed to abusive physical punishment, adult fighting and violent TV programs engaged in more episodes of aggression during playful breaks. Boys who reported to play with toy guns at home did not engage in aggressive behavior more often than those who did not, but they displayed a higher proportion of pretended aggression. Results also indicated that aggressive behavior becomes more frequent as the number of aggressive models at home increases.