Teacher-rated aggression and co-occurring behaviors and problems among schoolchildren: A comparison of four population-based European cohorts

AbstractAggressive behavior in school is an ongoing concern, with the current focus mostly on specific manifestations such as bullying and extreme violence. Children spend a substantial amount of time in school, but their behaviors in the school setting tend to be less well characterized than in the home setting. Since aggression may index multiple behavioral problems, we assessed associations of teacher-rated aggressive behavior with co-occurring externalizing/internalizing problems and social behavior in 39,936 schoolchildren from 4 population-based cohorts from Finland, the Netherlands, and the UK. Mean levels of aggressive behavior differed significantly by gender. Correlations of aggre…