Baby Bullies? The roots of early childhood aggression

In the past, adults thought that babies had no capacity to be a ‘bully.’ New research suggests that a tendency for aggression appears to emerge —by age one—right as a baby’s the motor skills develop strengthen and make it possible to coordinate and move about. Researchers found that aggressive babies were much more likely to have mothers who were clinically depressed during pregnancy, or who themselves had a history of conduct problems. Of note, no mention is made of the father and his anger threshold or depression, nor if the babies spent time care with other caregivers who might also have the identified “maternal” risk factors for childhood and adolescent aggression: which range “from social class and education to smoking, depression and conduct disorders.”

The Bully in the Baby? - Association for Psychological Science