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3.2: Before we get into the details, could we think about another developmental example?

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    10332
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    Yes, let’s work through an in-class activity we often use to illustrate the challenges of measurement equivalence. Say we are going to conduct a lifespan study of aggression. And we decide to measure aggression using an observational coding system, so we want to generate behaviors that we think would be good markers of aggression at different ages. We usually divide students into groups of 2 or 3, assign each one an age group, and have students generate three or four key behaviors for their age group and list them on the board. In Table 21.1, you can see how we organize this information in the board as well as some typical examples of the categories of behaviors our students have suggested.

    Table 3.2.1: Examples of categories of behavior that capture aggression at different ages.
    Age group Approx. Age Examples of behavioral categories that tap aggression
    Infancy 0 - 6 mon.  
    Infancy Toddler

    6 - 8 mon.

    18 - 24 mon.

    Hitting people with hand or object, biting people.

    Grabbing objects away from others.

    Childhood    
    Young 3 - 5 yrs. Hitting or kicking people, throwing objects at people, yelling or name calling, hair pulling.
    Middle Late

    6 - 8 yrs.

    9 - 10 yrs.

    Threatening, verbal taunts, and name calling.
    Chasing, bullying.
    Adolescence    
    Young 11 -13 yrs. Gossiping, shunning, threatening. Fist fights. Cyber-aggression.
    Middle Late

    14 - 16 yrs.

    17 - 19 yrs.

    Verbal bullying, exclusion. Sexual aggression. Swearing at someone
    Adulthood    
    Emerging Young

    20 - 25 yrs.

    25 - 35 yrs.

    Road rage. Verbal and emotional mistreatment during marital fights. Pushing underlings around in the job.
    Middle Late

    35 - 55 yrs.

    55 - 65 yrs.

    Cutting in line. Telling someone off. Blowing up at own kids.

    Dismissive and demeaning comments.

    Old age    
    Young-old Old

    65 - 76 yrs.

    77 - 89 yrs.

    Refusing to cooperate (e.g., taking out hearing aids).

    Cheating at cards.

    Verbal harassment. Name calling.

    Old-old Centarians

    90 - 99 yrs.

    100+ yrs.

     

    When we start off this exercise, the group of students assigned to “Infancy” typically begin by complaining about the injustice of being saddled with that age period; they usually spent their group time arguing about whether it is even possible to label any newborn behavior as “aggressive.” If aggression involves intentionally hurting others, are infants even capable of those kinds of intentions? The toddler and preschool groups are typically smug and rattle off their lists, which we recognize as “prototypical” aggression—hitting, biting, and (when their walking is stabilized) kicking other people. We are sobered by descriptions of bullying and cyber-bullying in late childhood and middle school, and start to chuckle when we think about how we express our own grown-up aggression while driving, at work, or on the sports field, and so on.