PREPARE: A Prosocial Curriculum for Aggressive Youth

Introduction It has been convincingly demonstrated during the past decade that aggressive behavior is learned behavior. Though the belief in instinct, not learning, as the primary source of human aggression dies hard, evidence to the contrary is overwhelming (Bandura, 1973; Goldstein. 1983). Not only is aggression primarily learned, but the manner in which such acquisition occurs has been shown in an extended series of social learning investigations to be no different from how all other behaviors-both antisocial and prosocial-are also learned. Thus, manipulativeness, cheating, teasing, bullying, as well as altruism, cooperation, sharing and empathy-and aggression-appear to be learned largely by means of either observational, vicarious experiences (e.g., seeing others perform the behavior and receiving reward for doing so) or direct experiences (e.g., enacting the behavior oneself and receiving reward for doing so). Chronically aggressive youngsters are characteristically individuals with a life history in which, from their early years on, aggression was frequently used, and used successfully, by family, peers, media figures, and others constituting the youth's real-world environment. Such aggression by others, increasingly learned and used by the youth himself, is very often richly, reliably, and immediately rewarded. It works; it pays off; it is reinforced-thus making it behavior which is quite difficult to change. The fact that such youths are often markedly deficient in prosocial alternative behaviors, that is, in achieving life satisfactions and effectiveness via prosocial, rather than antisocial routes, makes their chronic aggressiveness all the more difficult to change. And prosocially deficient they are. A substantial body of literature has directly demonstrated that chronically aggressive youngsters display widespread interpersonal, planning, aggression, management and other prosocial skill deficiencies. Freedman, Rosenthal, Donahoe, Schlundt & McFall (1978) examined the comparative skill competence levels of a group of such adolescents and a matched group (age, IQ, social background) of non-aggressive youth in response to a series of standardized role play situations. The aggressive adolescent sample responded in a consistently less skillful manner. Spence (1981) constituted comparable adolescent offender and non-offender samples, and videotaped their individual interviews with a previously unknown adult. The offender group evidenced significantly less (1) eye contact, (2) appropriate head movements, and, (3) speech, as well as significantly more fiddling and gross body movement. Conger, Miller & Walsmith (1965) add further to this picture of skill deficiency. They conclude from their evidence that juvenile delinquents, as compared to non-delinquent cohorts ... had more difficulty in getting along with peers, both in individual oneto-one contacts and in group situations, and were less willing or able to treat others courteously and tactfully, and less able to be fair in dealing with them. In return, they were less well liked and accepted by their peers. ]p. 4421 Patterson, Reid, Jones & Conger (1975), also studying chronically aggressive youngsters, observe: The socialization process appears to be severely impeded for many aggressive youngsters. Their behavioral adjustments are often immature and they do not seem to have learned the key social skills necessary for initiating . and maintaining positive social relationships with others. Peer groups often reject, avoid, and/or punish aggressive children, thereby excluding them from positive learning experiences with others lp. 4] As Patterson et al (1975) appears to be proposing, the social competence discrepancy between aggressive youngsters and their nonaggressive peers has early childhood roots according to evidence provided by Mussen, Conger, Kagan and Gerwitz (1979). Boys who later became delinquent in their longitudinal study, were appraised by their teachers as less well-adjusted socially than their classmates as