This study is an attempt to apply ethological tools of observation and analysis to the social behavior of 25 communally-reared children, ages 6 months to 4 years. The focus of this analysis is aggression and dominance relations. Findings indicate that: (1) agonistic behavior reveals stable and linear dominance hierarchies for children from 6 months to 4 years; (2) there is a higher frequency of agonistic behavior between children ranked in similar status categories; (3) there are no sex differences in aggression frequency or position in the dominance hierarchy; (4) children do not fight exclusively or significantly over space/territory or possession of objects; (5) there is a positive correlation between dominance rank and submission and a negative correlation between dominance rank and aggression; and (6) there is a positive correlation between dominance rank and age. (Author/CS)