Levels Of Relational Aggression Research Articles

A link between mothers' disciplinary strategies and children's relational aggression

This study examines the association between maternal disciplinary strategies and children's level of relational aggression, and then compares these associations with those found with overt aggression. Eighty‐two 4th graders (aged 9–11 years) completed peer nomination measures of relational and overt aggression, and their mothers completed a questionnaire designed to assess their use of disciplinary strategies (e.g. authoritarian, authoritative, permissive). Consistent with prior research, parental reliance on authoritarian strategies was positively associated with children's level of overt aggression, especially among boys. There was also a trend towards a positive association between authoritarianism and relational aggression among both boys and girls. In addition, this study is the first to show a positive association between maternal permissiveness and relational aggression. This association appears to be specific to relational, and not overt aggression, and emerge more strongly for girls than boys. The implications of these results for understanding the developmental underpinnings of relational aggression are discussed.

Does Relational Aggression Clarify or Confuse the Study of Sex Differences in Aggression?

Dr. Cote provides an interesting review of the development of sex differences in physical and non-physical aggression and begins to propose mechanisms by which such sex differences emerge including biological, evolutionary, and social factors. Until recently, the finding that significant sex differences exist in the prevalence of different forms of psychopathology was underutilized in etiological research. Fortunately, there has been a bit of a paradigm shift such that understanding sex differences is now a main aim of many studies, and one that has even drawn support from funding agencies such as the National Institute of Health in the US. The study of sex differences in aggression has been greatly influenced by the emergence of the constructs indirect aggression, social aggression and relational aggression, which are relatively synonymous. Before one can build a developmental model of aggression that has, at its premise, the assumption that boys are more likely to engage in physical aggression and girls are more likely to engage in relational aggression, at least two issues need to be resolved. The first is whether relational aggression occurs more frequently in girls than in boys. Although there may be some debate, as evident in Dr. Cote’s review as to the point in development when reliable sex differences in physical aggression emerge, there is very strong evidence that such sex differences are consistently found beginning at some point in the first 4–5 years of life and that they increase in magnitude with age. Data are not as consistent in revealing sex differences in relational aggression. In some studies girls are reported to be more relationally aggressive (e.g., Crick and Grotpeter 1995), whereas in other studies boys are reported to exhibit higher levels of relational aggression than girls (e.g., McEvoy et al. 2003; Tomada and Schneider 1997). In still other studies, the association between relational aggression and impairment has been stronger for boys than for girls (Crick Eur J Crim Policy Res (2007) 13:201–203 DOI 10.1007/s10610-007-9047-2

Relational Aggression at School: Associations with School Safety and Social Climate

The present study examines how exposure to relational aggression at school is associated with adoles- cents' perceptions of, and participation in, a hostile school environment. Participants were 1,335 African American and European American adolescents in grades 7 through 12 (52% female, 49% African American). Results indicate that exposure to relational aggression is associated with several components of adolescents' perceptions of the school climate. Adolescents exposed to high levels of relational aggression perceived their school to be less safe, and were less pleased with the general social atmosphere at school. Moreover, for males, but not females, exposure to relational aggression was associated with carrying a weapon to school. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in terms of working toward safer school environments for adolescents.

Transitioning Out of Peer Victimization in School Children: Gender and Behavioral Characteristics

The present study investigated the characteristics of children who remain consistently peer victimized in comparison to those who transition out of victimization status. The relationships between victimization and the victim’s level of overt aggression, relational aggression, impulsivity, and prosocial behaviors were examined from one year to the next. At Time 1, 1589 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade children were administered a peer nomination instrument assessing victimization and standard sociometric variables. At Time 2 (1 year later), 1619 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade children were administered the same measure. A mixed-design repeated measures MANOVA was conducted for boys and girls separately. Results indicated that in comparison to victims transitioning out of victimization status, consistently victimized boys were lower in prosocial behavior, and consistently victimized girls were higher in impulsivity. Results for girls also indicated that a reduction in victim’s own level of relational aggression was associated with cessation of victimization.

Relational aggression in college students: Examining the roles of social anxiety and empathy

AbstractThis study examined the unique contributions of social anxiety and empathy to relational aggression in 300 19–to–25–year–old (M=21.25; SD=1.32) male (n=97) and female (n=203) college students using hierarchical linear regression analysis. The interactive relations between gender and social anxiety, and between gender and empathy, were also assessed. In addition to the gender and overt aggression covariates, fear of negative evaluation and perspective taking were unique predictors of relational aggression. Males, students who were more overtly aggressive, and those who reported greater fear of negative evaluation were more relationally aggressive than were peers. Students with higher levels of perspective taking reported using less relational aggression than did peers. A gender x empathetic concern interaction indicated that for males only, lower levels of empathetic concern were associated with higher levels of relational aggression. Results are discussed within a social information‐processing perspective. Aggr. Behav. 29:430–439, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.