Mental health difficulties in children
Hypothesis: Aggression in Children
Martha Ramsey
Saint Leo University
Research Methods II: PSY 535
Instructor Keith Burton
July 24, 2022
Anger problems frequently coexist with other mental health difficulties in children, such as ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, and Tourette’s syndrome. Aggression may be influenced by biological factors such as genetics. Additionally, the environment plays a role. The following are some elements that raise the risk of violent behaviour being a target of sexual or physical abuse, a target of bullying community violence exposure and hereditary variables within the family. Also, frustration aggression may be a symptom in children with cognitive or communicative issues, including autism. As a result of their inability to express their emotions verbally and trouble managing their fear or irritation, children with these problems frequently become aggressive (Coyne, 2010). It is simple to control and manage aggression when one is aware of the elements that lead to the condition of anger. According to neurobiological theories, aggressive behaviour in children is closely related to low serotonin levels and elevated dopamine and epinephrine activity. Additionally, research has demonstrated that aggression is a highly forceful, improper, and non-adaptive verbal or physical strategy meant to advance personal interests. The main basis for a number of elements that influence the emergence of aggressive behaviours is found in gender disparities in aggression.
Hypothesis
Boys are considered to be more physically aggressive than girls.
Research methodology
Based on the research topics pertaining to big data in large cities, this methodology will comprise a systematic way of compiling, critically assessing, integrating, and presenting findings from various research investigations. Data on children’s self-reported relational and physical aggressiveness from various nations will be used in the study to address these challenges. Children’s homes will get letters outlining the study, and if the parents agree to have their contact information used for the study, they will be requested to return a completed form. Following that, families will be included in the study up until the desired sample size is reached in each nation (Lochman et al., 2012). Families of kids from private and public schools will be sampled in about the same proportion to how they will be represented in the city’s population, in order to make each state’s sample as representative of the city from which it will be taken as possible. Additionally, a sample of children from schools serving families from high-, middle-, and low-income levels will be drawn, roughly according to how these income brackets will be represented in the local population.
Procedure and measures
The Behavior Frequency Scale will be applied to gauge relational and physical aggressiveness that is self-reported. Children will be asked how frequently they have committed a string of violent acts over the previous 30 days. For instance, aggressions like pushing and striking other children or trying to make people dislike someone by speaking hurtful things about them will be assessed. To guarantee the linguistic and conceptual equivalence of metrics across languages, a process of forward- and backward translation will be implemented.
When discrepancies and unclear passages will be found, site coordinators and translators will be expected to assess them and make the necessary changes. Children will be given rating scales in the form of visual aids to assist them in remembering their alternatives for responding to questions. The average interview will last 35 minutes.
References
Coyne, S. M., Nelson, D. A., & Underwood, M. (2010). Aggression in children. Cuellar, A. (2015). Preventing and treating child mental health problems. The Future of Children, 111-134.
Lochman, J. E., Powell, N. R., Whidby, J. M., & FitzGerald, D. P. (2012). Aggression in children.
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Nice work here Martha.
Remember to use the formal APA style organization for Method sections. It should be it’s own section entitled “Method”, centered and bolded. Within should be the subsections on Participants, Measures (or Materials) and Procedure.
What you have written in the first paragraph under “Research Methodology” should be divvied up amongst those three subsections.
Within your Participants section should go the details about who you’ll study and how you’ll recruit them. If you’re recruiting families, indicate what their inclusion and exclusion criteria might be. If you’re recruiting from schools, indicate how you’d be doing so. Also include an estimate of how many participants you hope to recruit, and any demographic variables you’d plan to record.
Under the Measures section you should include the details of the materials you need to measure your variables. You mentioned a Behavior Frequency Scale – is that a published instrument? If so, make sure to cite it and clearly identify the ways it will measure your variable of interest (and remember, violence is just one kind of aggression). If it’s an original scale, keep in mind that you’d need to spell it out in it’s entirety as an appendix.
How will the scale be administered? Is this all done online? Face-to-face? You also mention an interview – is that how you’d gather data? Be specific here, and include it in your Procedure section.
Also, note that your references aren’t fully in APA style. The Coyne reference needs to be disentangled from the Cuellar reference, and the Cuellar reference needs to clarify the nature of that publication (book? journal? other?). Both Coyne and Lochman references are titled “Aggression in children” with no other information.
