The Bad Seed

14 Pages 3398 Words

(Harris, 1999)

A less accurate but very important study comes from comparing two children from the same biological parents – reportedly raised in the very same manner. Matthew was born into a supportive and loving family, “but for the first eight months of his life, he cried 18 hours a day.” By the time he was four years old, Matthew threw frequent and violent temper tantrums, locked his babysitters out of the house and responded to time outs by kicking down doors and climbing out of his bedroom window. He was diagnosed with Conduct Disorder shortly after. Matthew’s younger brother was “completely different from the moment of birth.” His mother stated, “We are the same two parents in the same house with the same rules and we have two completely different little beings.” (Cosgrove, 2000)

There are numerous studies on the differences between gender and levels of aggression. Gender, of course, is genetically determined before birth. According to Cook and Cook, “boys are more physically and verbally aggressive tha...