Toddler violence

The benefits of order
Tremblay says the risk of the aggression problems continuing beyond kindergarten age is negligible for kids who aren't biologically predisposed and who live in nurturing, stable homes. "The normal environment deals adequately with these problems," he says. But what about the small minority of children who continue to be aggressive? New brain science is revealing that an aggressive brain, one formed through intricate interaction between biology and environment, is laid down during a child's early years.

Biological influences
Researchers in New Zealand recently discovered a gene that regulates aggressive impulses. Without it, humans are at higher risk of antisocial or violent behaviour as adults; with it, they can withstand abusive situations and grow up relatively unscathed.

Smoking during pregnancy appears to cause permanent changes in the brain, says Tremblay. The frontal lobes, where self-control lives, mature slowly in early childhood, but frontal lobes damaged by smoke in the womb do not mature normally during this period. "Smoking affects the migration of cells," he says. "It prevents the brain from developing the adequate connections that will lead to a brain that has self-control." Almost a quarter of Canada's pregnant women smoke, and Tremblay is passionate about reducing this risk factor. "It's poison."
A child's environment can also lead to changes in the brain. Environmental factors, such as poor nurturing and support, economic stress, abuse and drug use, can have negative effects on brain development. The brain of a child living in a high-stress environment, says Dr. Fraser Mustard, founding president of The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in Toronto, is bathed in a constant stream of chemicals that affect brain function and trigger an "always on alert" disposition and a tendency to more violent behaviour.

High stress environments
New research shows that a high-stress environment can also include maternal depression. In a recent study of 122 British families, children of mothers who were depressed for three or more months following birth were three times more likely to use weapons in schoolyard fights than children whose mothers weren't depressed. Attachment, say researchers, is at risk under these circumstances, since a depressed mother is often withdrawn and may not respond to her child's needs adequately in the early years of life. (Similarly at risk for attachment problems is a child in poor-quality day care.)

"If you're running on empty as a mother, if you're stressed out by poverty or by living in a violent situation, chances are greater that you will have a child who is aggressive," says Mary Gordon, president and founder of Roots of Empathy (ROE), a school-based social- and emotional-learning program. "The ability to respond to a toddler to meet their needs and curb their aggressive tendencies takes a lot of patience and a lot of time."

Early intervention is important
Webster-Stratton says evidence shows that there's hope even for kids with the odds stacked against them -- as long as help arrives during early childhood. "It's really important to pay attention at this early age because we know that without intervention, at least 50 per cent of these kids will continue along that aggression trajectory," she says. Early childhood, when children are more malleable, is the time to intervene, not during adolescence when violent behaviour has had a decade longer to become entrenched and negative peer groups are in place. "Children between three and eight are incredibly resilient," says Webster-Stratton. "It's fairly easy at this age to change children's negative cognitions, to build their self-esteem, to teach them social skills." Adds Tremblay: "Even very aggressive children from disorganized environments can learn."