PROXIMATE CAUSES OF AGGRESSIVE FIGHTING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL-CHILDREN

In study 1,8-and 11-year-old girls and boys (N=110) were interviewed i ndividually and asked about why children in general, and themselves in particular, fight with fellow pupils in the playground. A substantial proportion of children (51 per cent) reported having had at least one aggressive fight during the previous year. The most common reasons fo r children resorting to fighting were retaliations to teasing, retalia tions to unprovoked assaults, disagreements over aspects of the game t hat was being played, because another child was disliked, and to settl e dominance disputes. In study 2, a direct observational methodology w as employed to examine how often children of these ages engage in aggr essive fighting, how long fights last, and their proximate causes. Amo ng the younger pupils, a large proportion of fights (43.3 per cent) ha d no obvious immediate cause to an adult observer, but others were cau sed when a playful assault received an aggressive retaliation (15.4 pe r cent), and by disputes over space in the playground (13.5 per cent). Among the 11-year-old pupils, a smaller percentage of fights (14.8 pe rcent) had no obvious immediate cause. The two most common causes of f ighting at this age were aggressive retaliations to teasing (25.9 per cent) and aggressive retaliations to accidental injury/hurt (18.5 per cent). In study 3, in situ interviews were combined with direct playgr ound observations in order to reveal participants' views (or onlookers ' views if participants were not available to be interviewed) about th e causes of fights. Again, the most common causes of fighting were dis putes over some aspect of the game being played (33.3 per cent), aggre ssive retaliations to teasing (25.0 per cent), disagreements over poss ession of toys/equipment (14.6 per cent), and aggressive retaliations to accidental injury/hurt (14.6 per cent). Age and sex differences are reported in some measures across all three studies. The results are d iscussed in terms of their implications for interventions aimed at imp roving children's experiences of life on the school playground.