Childhood Aggression and Violence : Sources of Influence

The conference on which this volume is based was one of a series of symposia initiated by the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the theory and research surrounding topics of interest to the faculty and germane to the Hawaiian community. In order to encourage interaction around specific themes, the symposium series has assembled a small, select group of scholars to exchange knowledge, ideas, and enthusiasm with the resident faculty, students, and the community at large. The first two symposia concentrated on cross-cultural themes (Marsella, Tharp, & Ciborowski, 1979; Marsella, DeVos, & Hsu, 1985). The third one addressed a significant social problem: aggression and violence in children. At the time that our plan was being developed, Hawaii, along with mainland states, was experiencing or at least expressing widespread alarm over the involvement of children and youth in violent crime, in belligerence at school, as perpetrators of aggression at home, and as victims of physical abuse. This symposium was planned around a major area within the department, the Clinical Studies Program. The Clinical Studies Program has developed along two interrelated lines of concentration: one emphasized the foundation of clin- cical psychology in basic science and the other expanded its purview into the broader community, covering prevention, systems change, and social networks.