The basis for aggression may start in the womb

Is there really such a thing as a natural-born killer?

By Scott Sleek
Monitor staff

As far as some psychologists are concerned, violence prevention should start in the womb.

Child development experts now widely believe that children are most susceptible to learning violent behavior in their first two to three years of life. But many are developing a keen interest in an expanding body of research that indicates the foundations for aggression may be set even during gestation. An expectant mother?s stress level, nutritional habits, use of drugs and alcohol, and exposure to environmental toxins, may hardwire the fetal brain into a state of hypervigilance or aggression, studies show.

The research on this concept is compiled in a new book, 'Ghosts From the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence' (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997). The authors, Robin Karr-Morse, a family therapist in Portland, Ore., and Meredith Wiley, chief of staff to the Oregon speaker of the house, cite the research of many psychologists and other behavioral scientists. Those studies show that a mother?s poor health habits, emotional state or exposure to harmful substances can affect the fetus by impairing the neurological mechanisms that control temperament and self-control.

The book notes, for example, a 1994 study in which pregnant women watched violent video clips. The researchers found that the unborn children became as agitated as their mothers, in terms of heart rate and movement. Many psychologists theorize that those types of prenatal reactions affect the fetus? brain circuitry, possibly making them susceptible to being high-strung or aggressive as they grow up.

Other studies show that children are more likely to be aggressive if their mothers were found to have ingested lead from old house paint or gasoline fumes, as well as nicotine, alcohol and other drugs, during pregnancy.

Many psychologists regard such research as the cutting edge of efforts to reduce youth violence. They believe it will spark educators and developmental experts to promote better health habits among pregnant mothers, and to work with children at extremely young ages to offset the neurological risk factors that may develop in the womb.

Some are already demonstrating the importance of early intervention. Beginning with babies as young as six weeks, Craig Ramey, PhD, of the University of Alabama has exposed children, who are either impoverished, had health problems, or both, to an environment that included stimulating toys, playmates and sound nutrition. Those children were found to have higher IQs than control participants who have similar risk factors.

Those findings are important for violence-prevention researchers because studies show that learning disabilities and other cognitive problems are linked to higher levels of aggression, says Robert Zagar, PhD, a Chicago forensic psychologist who studies homicidal youth. But despite the growing knowledge about the biological underpinnings of aggression, psychologists aren?t dismissing the influence of socialization throughout childhood on a child?s tendency to resort to violence. Ronald Levant, EdD, a member of APA?s Board of Directors who studies masculinity issues, says boys are socialized to use aggression to deal with their emotional pain. They learn to regard other emotional displays, such as crying, as unmasculine, he says. And Jeremy Shapiro, PhD, a youth-violence researcher in Cleveland, contends that some intervention programs are just more appropriate for older children.

'Prevention programming is just more difficult with younger kids,' says Shapiro of Applewood Centers, Inc., a children?s mental health agency in Cleveland. 'You can try to teach them communication skills, anger-management techniques and conflict-resolution skills. But it?s hard to do that when they can?t read and have such simple ways of thinking.'

But other psychologists believe the best time to help a child learn peaceful social skills is in the early years, when the brain is still forming. As Zagar points out, antiviolence interventions for very young children have yielded promising results, while those geared toward children in juvenile court succeed less than 50 percent of the time.