Science Story

03 December 2008 03:59 BST

Terror tots 'can be tamed'

Some young children may be born with aggressive tendencies but they can learn to control their behaviour as they get older, research says today.

Richard Tremblay, professor of Paediatrics, Psychiatry, and Psychology at the University of Montreal, said the finding should help to develop ways of helping children in their formative years.

This will in turn lead to a decline in antisocial and even criminal behaviour in later life, he will tell scientists today.

Professor Tremblay is presenting his study's findings to a scientific discussion meeting on the neurobiology of violence run by the Royal Society.

His research says children learn to regulate physical aggression during preschool years and those who do not stand a much higher chance of developing into aggressive adults.

Both genetic and environmental factors are said to influence learning how not to be violent.

Some studies have suggested, for example, that nicotine from mothers who smoked during pregnancy can affect the development of areas of a baby's brain that are responsible for emotional control.

And children who are at highest risk of not learning how to control their behaviour tend to be born to mothers with a history of antisocial behaviour during their school years; mothers who have children at an early age; who smoked during pregnancy; and parents with a low income and troubled family relationships.

"The early years of human development are on 'fast forward' and it is during this time period that physical aggression increases most dramatically and environment plays a very important role in the extent to which physical aggression develops or is controlled," said Professor Tremblay.

"Identifying the factors which stop children becoming well socialised adults should help us design preventative measures which are employed at the right time in a child's development. These should put an appropriate emphasis on the behaviour of the parents, as well as that of the child."