Relational Aggression In Girls Research Articles

Using the social information processing model to understand gender differences in the manifestation and frequency of aggression

Gender differences in physical aggression across early and middle childhood have been reliably established, with boys engaging in physical aggression more often than girls. The social information processing (SIP) model is an empirically-supported model initially developed to understand the etiology of physical aggression in boys. However, it remains unclear the extent to which this model also applies to girls who are more likely to engage in relational than physical aggression. The purpose of the current review is to examine the applicability of the SIP model to relational aggression in girls, using gender-schema and social-cognitive theories of gender development to inform our understanding of how gender socialization processes influence the development of SIP skills and displays of aggression. We argue that although a gender-linked version of the SIP model provides compelling theoretical predictions of when and why girls will engage in relationally aggressive behavior, empirical evidence in support of this model is mixed. After critically evaluating empirical literature in this area, we then briefly review evidence regarding the efficacy of SIP-focused interventions for physical and relational aggression and discuss their applicability to males and females. We conclude the paper by discussing limitations of extant research and highlighting future directions in this area.

Parental Psychological Control and Children’s Relational Aggression: Examining the Roles of Gender and Normative Beliefs about Relational Aggression

Drawing on the information processing model for the development of aggression, children’s acquisition of aggressive responses could be associated with parenting that communicated norms favoring aggression. Extending this view, the present study examined the mediating role of children’s normative beliefs about relational aggression (NBRA) on the association between psychologically controlling parenting and children’s relational aggression (RA), and further explored whether this possible indirect effect would be contingent on the child’s gender. 341 upper elementary school students (174 boys and 166 girls) reported perceived paternal psychological control (PPC) and maternal psychological control (MPC) during their fifth-grade fall semester, rated their NBRA during their sixth-grade fall semester, and assessed RA through a peer-nomination procedure during their sixth-grade spring semester. Results demonstrated that the indirect effects of perceived PPC and MPC on children’s RA via their NBRA were both significant among the entire sample. However, by means of conditional process analysis, we found that whereas perceived PPC positively predicted boys’ and girls’ NBRA, perceived MPC positively predicted boys’ but not girls’ NBRA. In addition, children’s NBRA was only positively predictive of RA for girls. As such, the indirect effect was exclusively significant for perceived PPC among girls.

Princesses and Mean Girls: A Study on Relational Aggression in Girls’ Literature

Princesses and Mean Girls: A Study on Relational Aggression in Girls’ Literature

Associations Among Friendship Jealousy, Peer Status, and Relational Aggression in Early Adolescence

This study investigated the associations among peer status, friendship jealousy, and relational aggression in early adolescence, with a focus on peer status as a moderator of the association between relational aggression and friendship jealousy. Three hundred eighteen sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students completed a sociometric assessment of relational aggression, popularity, and peer preference, and a self-report friendship jealousy measure. Relational aggression was negatively correlated with peer preference, but positively correlated with popularity for boys and girls. Regression analyses showed that peer status moderated the association between friendship jealousy and relational aggression for girls and boys. At low levels of peer preference, high friendship jealousy was positively associated with relational aggression for girls, but negatively associated with relational aggression for boys. Findings are discussed in light of friendship and social status maintenance processes.

Executive Functioning and Engagement in Physical and Relational Aggression among Children with ADHD.

Although evidence suggests that executive functioning (EF) impairments are implicated in physically aggressive behavior (e.g., hitting) these cognitive impairments have rarely been examined with regard to relational aggression (e.g., gossip, systematic exclusion). Studies also have not examined if EF impairments underlie the expression of aggression in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and if child gender moderates risk. Children with and without clinical elevations in ADHD symptoms (N=124; ages 8-12years; 48% male) completed a battery of EF tests. Parent and teacher report of ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and teacher report of engagement in physical and relational aggression were collected. Models tested the unique association of EF abilities with physical and relational aggression and the indirect effect through the expression of ADHD or ODD behaviors; child gender was also tested as a moderator. EF impairment was uniquely associated with physical aggression, but better EF ability was associated with relational aggression. For boys, poor EF also was indirectly associated with greater physical aggression through the expression of ADHD behaviors. However, ADHD symptoms were unrelated to relational aggression. ODD symptoms also predicted physical aggression for boys but relational aggression for girls. Results suggest that there are multiple and distinct factors associated with engagement in physical and relational aggression and that better EF may actually promote relational aggression. Established models of physical aggression should not be assumed to map on to explanations of relational aggression.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Female Student Aggression at an All-Girls School

There has been limited research into how teachers view and respond to relational aggression in girls. The existing research is largely quantitative and questionnaire based and has indicated that gender stereotypes may influence teachers’ perceptions of female aggression. The present study adopted a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews to explore how seven teachers (six females and one male) working in a single-sex girls’ school experienced and perceived female student aggression. The results were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and three themes were identified: the physicality of female aggression, aggression as the presence or absence of control, and community—aggression as a means of expressing belonging. These themes were discussed in the context of the need for a new language of female aggression, which promoted a genuine language of assertion for girls and women.

Types of Relational Aggression in Girls Are Differentiated by Callous-Unemotional Traits, Peers and Parental Overcontrol.

Adolescent girls often perpetrate aggression by gossiping and spreading rumours about others, by attempting to ruin relationships and by manipulating and excluding others. Further, males and females engage in reactive and proactive relational aggression differently. In this study, we examined the individual, peer and parental contextual factors that best explained the use of reactive and proactive relational aggression in girls. Female participants (n = 614; ages 11–18 years) completed questionnaires on aggression, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, delinquency, peer delinquency, gender composition of their peer group, resistance to peer influence and perceived parental overcontrol. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the effects of individual, peer- and parent-related variables on the likelihood of being classified as a low aggressor, reactive aggressor or proactive/reactive aggressor. Girls in the combined reactive/proactive aggression group were younger, had greater CU traits, a lower proportion of male peers and greater perception of parental control than both the reactive and low aggressive groups. Both highly aggressive groups were more delinquent and had greater peer delinquency than the low aggressive group. This study suggests those girls who show relational aggression for the purpose of gaining status and revenge feel restrained by their parents and may gravitate toward relationships that support their behaviour.

Parenting, relational aggression, and borderline personality features: associations over time in a Russian longitudinal sample.

Crick, Murray-Close, and Woods (2005) encouraged the study of relational aggression as a developmental precursor to borderline personality features in children and adolescents. A longitudinal study is needed to more fully explore this association, to contrast potential associations with physical aggression, and to assess generalizability across various cultural contexts. In addition, parenting is of particular interest in the prediction of aggression or borderline personality disorder. Early aggression and parenting experiences may differ in their long-term prediction of aggression or borderline features, which may have important implications for early intervention. The currrent study incorporated a longitudinal sample of preschool children (84 boys, 84 girls) living in intact, two-parent biological households in Voronezh, Russia. Teachers provided ratings of children's relational and physical aggression in preschool. Mothers and fathers also self-reported their engagement in authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and psychological controlling forms of parenting with their preschooler. A decade later, 70.8% of the original child participants consented to a follow-up study in which they completed self-reports of relational and physical aggression and borderline personality features. The multivariate results of this study showed that preschool relational aggression in girls predicted adolescent relational aggression. Preschool aversive parenting (i.e., authoritarian, permissive, and psychologically controlling forms) significantly predicted aggression and borderline features in adolescent females. For adolescent males, preschool authoritative parenting served as a protective factor against aggression and borderline features, whereas authoritarian parenting was a risk factor for later aggression.

Profiles of the forms and functions of self-reported aggression in three adolescent samples.

In the current study, we addressed several issues related to the forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression in community (n = 307), voluntary residential (n = 1,917), and involuntarily detained (n = 659) adolescents (ages 11-19 years). Across samples, boys self-reported more physical aggression and girls reported more relational aggression, with the exception of higher levels of both forms of aggression in detained girls. Further, few boys showed high rates of relational aggression without also showing high rates of physical aggression. In contrast, it was not uncommon for girls to show high rates of relational aggression alone, and these girls tended to also have high levels of problem behavior (e.g., delinquency) and mental health problems (e.g., emotional dysregulation and callous-unemotional traits). Finally, for physical aggression in both boys and girls, and for relational aggression in girls, there was a clear pattern of aggressive behavior that emerged from cluster analyses across samples. Two aggression clusters emerged, with one group showing moderately high reactive aggression and a second group showing both high reactive and high proactive aggression (combined group). On measures of severity (e.g., self-reported delinquency and arrests) and etiologically important variables (e.g., emotional regulation and callous-unemotional traits), the reactive aggression group was more severe than a nonaggressive cluster but less severe than the combined aggressive cluster.

‘It’s a girl thing!’ Do boys engage in relational aggression? Exploration of whether strategies to educate young people about relational aggression are relevant for boys

Relational aggression is often perceived as a female issue. Less is known about relational aggression in adolescent boys. This study examines whether the issues associated with relational aggression in girls are similar for boys to determine whether an intervention designed for girls would be relevant for boys. Focus group discussions illustrate that boys engage in relational aggression and that it appears to be lined to maintaining power and status amongst their friendship groups. After the intervention the boys reported having a greater understanding of relational aggression, in particular the effects of exclusion. They reported that conflict resolution and managing anger were difficult for them to do. They admitted that some of the techniques might be useful, but were less sure about whether they would use them. They expressed a desire to explore anger management in more detail. It seemed the lessons were more suitable for the older boys as they had the developmental and intellectual capacity to engage with the topic. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Bullying Among Nurses

OverviewRelational aggression is a type of bullying typified by various forms of psychological (rather than physical) abuse. It includes such behaviors as gossiping, withholding information, and ostracism. Although relational aggression in girls has garnered considerable interest, scant research on

Morningness/eveningness, morning-to-afternoon cortisol ratio, and antisocial behavior problems during puberty.

The relationship between morningness/eveningness (M/E) and morning-to-afternoon cortisol ratio, pubertal timing, and antisocial behavior was examined in 111 girls and boys ages 8 to 13 years. Cortisol levels showed a significant increase after awakening and declined thereafter (p<.05). Eveningness was related to a composite measure of antisocial behavior and rule-breaking and attention behavior problems and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms in boys and relational aggression in girls. In boys only, lower a.m. to p.m. cortisol ratio, indicating less circadian decrease in cortisol, was related to attention problems. Early pubertal timing was associated with boys' rule-breaking and attention behavior problems and CD symptoms and girls' relational aggression. The findings indicate that evening activity preference; extreme a.m. to p.m. cortisol ratios, in one case; and early pubertal timing were associated with antisocial behavior even in young adolescents, but the findings were stronger for boys than for girls.

Social status and aggressive and disruptive behavior in girls: Individual, group, and classroom influences

Recent studies have found distinct subtypes of aggressive youth, marked by either high social status or social marginalization, and that various measures of status differentially associate with aggression. The majority of these studies, however, focused on boys, adolescents, and/or relational aggression in girls. The current research examined how the kind of status measured and the social ecology affect the association between overt aggression and social status in a sample of 187 3rd grade girls. Cluster analysis uncovered aggressive-popular, aggressive-unpopular, and prosocial-popular configurations. Although likeability was related solely to prosocial behavior, other measures of status co-occurred with both prosocial and aggressive behavior. Peer-group behavior complemented that of individuals, though peer-group and classroom acceptance of aggression were not related to cluster prevalence.

Parenting predictors of relational aggression among Puerto Rican and European American school-age children

The relationship between parenting and physical aggression is well established. However, less consideration has been given to parenting and relational aggression. The present study investigated four aspects of maternal parenting – overreactivity, laxness, positive affect and negative affect – and their relationships to relational aggression, in a sample of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse families. In the overall sample, positive maternal affect predicted less relational aggression, and negative maternal affect predicted more relational aggression. Laxness was associated with relational aggression in girls. For European American participants, negative affect, overreactivity, and laxness predicted relational aggression, whereas these relationships did not hold for Puerto Rican families. When parenting predictors were considered together, negative affect emerged as the most consistent predictor of relational aggression. Results suggest the need for more research on predictors of relational aggression, and for continued consideration of gender and ethnicity.

Media Exposure, Aggression and Prosocial Behavior During Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study

AbstractPreschool children (N = 78) enrolled in multi‐informant, multi‐method longitudinal study were participants in a study designed to investigate the role of media exposure (i.e., violent and educational) on concurrent and future aggressive and prosocial behavior. Specifically, the amount of media exposure and the nature of the content was used to predict concurrent and future physical, verbal and relational aggression as well as prosocial behavior for girls and boys. This two‐year longitudinal study found that media exposure predicted various subtypes of aggression and prosocial behavior. These findings are qualified by the gender of the focal child. That is, parental reports of media exposure were associated with relational aggression for girls and physical aggression for boys at school. Ways in which these findings extend our understanding of the role of media during early childhood are discussed.

The association of psychopathic traits with aggression and delinquency in non‐referred boys and girls

The current study investigated the association of psychopathic traits with aggression and delinquency in a non-referred sample of boys (n=86) and girls (n=114) in the fifth through ninth grades at two public schools in a large urban area. Psychopathic traits were measured by both teacher- and self-report ratings, whereas aggression and delinquency were assessed through self-report ratings. Self-reported psychopathic traits were associated with both aggression and delinquency and teacher-reported psychopathic traits were associated with higher levels of aggression. There were no clear differences for the callous-unemotional, narcissism, or impulsivity dimensions in their associations with aggression and delinquency. Also, psychopathic traits predicted aggression and delinquency for both boys and girls. The one clear gender difference was in the stronger associations between psychopathic traits and relational aggression for girls.

The Relevance of the Social Information Processing Model for Understanding Relational Aggression in Girls

Two studies examined whether social information-processing variables predict relational aggression in girls. In Study 1, fourth- through sixth-grade girls reported their intent attributions, social goals, outcome expectancies for relational aggression, and the likelihood that they would choose a relationally aggressive response in response to vignettes depicting ambiguous relational provocation situations. In Study 2, girls reported their intent attributions, evaluations of relational aggression, and likelihood of choosing a relationally aggressive response in response to ambiguous relational provocation vignettes. Social-cognitive variables failed to relate significantly to peer nominations of relational aggression in predicted ways in either study, challenging the relevance of the social information-processing model for girls.

Self-other representations and relational and overt aggression in adolescent girls and boys.

Aggressive behavior in girls has received far less attention than similar problems in boys. This study examined self-representation, and others' representation of self, as predictors of relational aggression, overt aggression, and assaultive behavior in 32 girls and 52 boys, 10 to 17 years of age, referred for assessment due to significant aggressive and delinquent behavior problems. As predicted, negativity of self-representation predicted relational aggression in girls but not boys. Negativity of self-representation also predicted overt aggression and assaultive behavior in both girls and boys. Parental representations of self were not predictive in this sample; however, negativity of peer representations of self, was associated with increased relational aggression in girls and decreased relational aggression in boys. Negativity of peer representations of self also predicted overt aggression and assaultive behavior in both girls and boys. Results suggest that the evaluation of self-other representations may be valuable in the assessment of risk for gender specific patterns of aggression.