L.A. Stories: Aggression in Preschoolers' Spontaneous Narratives after the Riots of 1992

• Published in: Child development Vol. 67; no. 1; pp. 19 - 32
• Main Authors: Farver, Jo Ann M., Frosch, Dominick L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.1996; University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, etc
• Subjects: Aggression; Aggression - psychology; California; California (Los Angeles); Central Cities; Children & youth; Cities; Civil Disturbances; Comparative Analysis; Concept Formation; Detroit, Michigan; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Humans; Infant; Influences; Inner City; Los Angeles; Los Angeles 1992 Riots; Los Angeles, California; Low Income Groups; Male; Mass Behavior; Mexican Americans - psychology; Narratives; New Jersey; Personality Assessment; Personality Development; Preschool Children; Preschool Education; Problem Solving; Race Relations; Race riots; Riots; Social Environment; Stories; Story Telling; Storytelling; Urban Population; Verbal Behavior; Violence; Violence - psychology; California (Los Angeles); Los Angeles; Los Angeles California; United States > US
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01716.x

64 inner‐city preschoolers' spontaneous story narratives that were examined directly after the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were compared with narratives told by a matched comparison group of 128 children living in other U.S. cities who had no direct exposure to the riots. Narratives were coded for length, complexity, overall thematic content, character behavior in the stories, number of aggressive words, and story outcome. Children were given language and pre‐academic skill assessments, their classroom behavior was observed, and teachers rated children's social competence. Results indicated that there were significant group differences in the story narratives. Children who were directly exposed to the riots told more narratives with aggressive thematic content, aggressive words, unfriendly figures who engaged in physical aggression, and mastery of situations with aggression than did the comparison group of children who had no direct exposure to the riots. The findings suggest that children's narratives reflected their exposure to the violence and their expression of that experience.