AGGRESSIVE AND NON‐AGGRESSIVE FIGHTING IN TWELVE‐TO‐THIRTEEN YEAR OLD PRE‐ADOLESCENT BOYS

Abstract

Summary Ethological observations weir made of 34 boys in a secondary school playground, covering all aspects of behaviour, including fighting. Factor analyses were performed on individual samples of behaviour; the two main types of righting were vigorous fighting, usually playful but often causing distress to the victim and playful fighting of low intensity. Fighting of the first type is rare in young boys, and it is suggested that this intermingling of rough play and aggression in older boys exposes aggression to social influences which in younger boys are confined to rough play.