Aggressive behavior in preschoolers' social networks: Do birds of a feather flock together?

In a preschool setting, the naturally occurring aggressive behavior of sixty-four 4-year-old children was observed and recorded. Individual differences in gender, behavioral style, social competence, reciprocal friendship, and social clique membership were examined to understand how these variables might be related to children's aggressive behavior. Variations in children's aggressive behavior were found to be associated with behavior style and social competence with peers. Children within social cliques were relatively similar in the frequency of their observed aggressive behavior. The results suggest that efforts to decrease children's aggression might target groups of children rather than individuals.