Language and Aggression in Preschool Children. Gender Differences

Abstract

The present study has two objectives. Firstly to analyze the gender differences in language development in preschool children and secondly to analyze the relationships between language development on the one hand and aggression, prosocial behavior on the other hand. The study involved 155 preschool children aged between 36 and 71 months (M = 52.61, SD = 10.40) enrolled in a kindergarten in Bucharest. The instruments used were the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, ABAS-II (Harrison et al., 2012) and Preschool Social Behavior Scale - Teacher Form (Crick, 1996). To determine the gender differences, a series of independent samples t tests and Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test were performed and for the relationships among variables, regression and moderation analyzes were performed. The results showed that girls have higher levels of language development than boys, in all measured dimensions. At the same time, the level of language development was negatively associated with physical and relational aggression and positively with prosocial behavior. Contrary to our expectations, gender has not moderated the relationship between language development and aggression or prosocial behavior. The practical implications of the study address the need to capture and treat early delays in language development in order to prevent aggressive behaviors among preschoolers.