ALABAMA A&M and AUBURN UNIVERSITIES

 TENDENCIES TOWARD VIOLENCE CAN BE SET IN FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE

AUBURN, FEB. 18, 2000---Tendencies toward violence in some individuals may have been set in their first three years of life.

When babies are born, the majority of their brain cells are not connected. About 90 percent of these trillions of connections take place in the first three to five years, says Jennifer Kerpelman, a family and child development specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. If a child lives in an environment without affection or positive reinforcement, it is speculated that areas of the brain dealing with appropriate social interactions become weak or disappear.

A poor environment may cause a child to react in several ways. Research on Romanian orphans found that children who were neglected early in life tended to withdraw from social interaction. However, six out of 10 of those imprisoned for committing crimes were victims of child abuse. Some withdraw, some act out inappropriate behavior.

Basically, children are abused in three ways -- physically, sexually or verbally. The abuse may cause brain cells dealing with empathy and positive social interaction to weaken early in life. Brain cells continue to develop through adolescence, but the most intense growing period is in the first five years.

During this same time period "windows of opportunity" for connections occur. For example, the window of opportunity for brain connections dealing with vision occur the first year. In years past, doctors used to delay operating on children with blinding cataracts until about age 5. After many unsuccessful operations, doctors found that the best time to operate for cataracts on small children was during the first year.

  It's almost like babies are born with computer motherboards in their brains, says Kerpelman. The one for speech, for example, is set up so a child can learn any language in the world, but most of the connections that develop with speech are in the first five years. This is why people over age 6 have a hard time learning new languages. After age six, the brain cells dealing with learning new languages begin to weaken because they haven't been used.

SOURCE: DR. JENNIFER KERPELMAN, Child and Family Development Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System (334) 844-4149