This research was designed as an initial attempt to assess relational
aggression in preschool-age children. Our goal was to develop reliable
measures of relational aggression for young children and to use these
instruments to address several important issues (e.g., the relation b
etween this form of aggression and social-psychological adjustment). R
esults provide evidence that relationally aggressive behaviors appear
in children's behavioral repertoires at relatively young ages, and tha
t these behaviors can be reliably distinguished from overtly aggressiv
e behaviors in preschool-age children. Further, findings indicate that
preschool girls are significantly more relationally aggressive and le
ss overtly aggressive than preschool boys. Finally, results show that
relational aggression is significantly related to social-psychological
maladjustment (e.g., peer rejection) for both boys and girls.