CHILDRENS ABILITIES TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PLAYFUL AND AGGRESSIVE FIGHTING - A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Children's abilities to distinguish between playful and aggressive fig hting, and the cues they use to do so, were examined as a function of age (8 versus 11 years), sex and observed participation in play fighti ng (high versus low) and aggressive fighting. Most 8- and 11-year-olds , but significantly more of the latter, agreed with the standard view of 19 episodes recorded on videotape, and boys and girls did so to the same extent. This ability was independent of observed participation i n play fighting and aggressive fighting, in three out of four classes; in the fourth class, those children that were observed to engage in m ost bouts of play fighting and most episodes of aggression tended to m ake the most errors on this test. In three out of four classes, the co rrelations between participation in playful and aggressive fighting we re non-significant. The most frequently reported criteria to help sepa rate playful and aggressive fighting were related to the physical acti ons of the participants, inferences about actions/intentions and wheth er the participants stayed together or separated. Significant age diff erences in the use of some criteria were obtained. Developmental chang es in these two aspects of social skills were discussed, as were some developmental implications of poor social skills.