Relational aggression, gender, and peer acceptance: Invariance across culture, stability over time, and concordance among informants.

Abstract

It has been proposed that overt physical and verbal aggression are more prevalent among boys and that covert aggression in the context of interpersonal relationships is more typical of girls. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend American research on this topic to Italy. Italian elementary school pupils (n = 314) and their teachers provided nominations for aggression and prosocial behavior on 2 occasions within a single school year. Both peer and teacher nominations were highly stable, though there was very poor concordance between them. Peer nominations for both overt and relational aggression were linked to peer rejection. Contrary to expectations, boys scored higher than girls in both overt and relational aggression. Nevertheless, on the basis of the gender composition of extreme groups, the authors conclude that the distinction between overt and relational aggression is as useful in facilitating research on aggressiveness among girls in Italy as it is in the United States.

A comparison of girls' and boys' aggressive-disruptive behavior trajectories across elementary school: Prediction to young adult antisocial outcomes.

“…Cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal research has found that relational aggression is associated with peer rejection and depression during childhood (Crick, 1996;Crick & Grotpeter, 1995), but a link to serious antisocial behavior problems later in life has yet to be established. Moreover, relational and physical aggression tends to be highly correlated among both girls and boys (Henington, Hughes, Cavell, & Thompson, 1998;Tomada & Schneider, 1997), suggesting that girls who display high rates of physical aggression also may exhibit high rates of relational aggression. More longitudinal research that examines disruptive behavior, physical aggression, and relational aggression across the life span and explores their association to antisocial outcomes in young adulthood is necessary to understand the unique and common effects of these different forms of antisocial behavior for girls.…”

L’agression indirecte : un indicateur d’inadaptation psychosociale chez les filles ?1

“…Partir des ragots, raconter les secrets des autres, dégrader, ridiculiser, isoler ou exclure une personne du groupe d'amis, porter atteinte à la réputation, constituent autant de manifestations de ce mode d'agression connu sous le nom d'agression indirecte (Verlaan, 1995 ;Bjorkqvist et al, 1992 ;Owens et al, 2000), relationnelle (Crick et Grotpeter, 1995 ;Tomada et Schneider, 1997) ou sociale (Cairns et Cairns, 1994 ;Galen et Underwood, 1997). Cet ensemble de termes dont les définitions varient légèrement d'un auteur à l'autre, font sensiblement référence au même phénomène (Bjorkqvist, 2001 ;Vaillancourt et al, 2003 ;Verlaan, 2005).…”

“…D'ailleurs, certaines études ne rapportent aucune différence sexuelle en ce qui a trait à la manifestation d'agression indirecte (Rys et Bear, 1977 ;Delveaux et Daniels, 2000 ;Roecker Phelps, 2001) ; d'autres encore indiquent que les garçons manifestent davantage de ces conduites que les filles (Tomada et Schneider, 1997 ;Henington et al, 1998). Ces différences sont probablement attribuables à des modalités de mesure.…”

Central African Republic

“…Tomada and Schneider (1997) found boys rate higher on indirect aggression in their study of Italian children. It appears, however, that this is the more typical form of aggression for females (Archer, 2004, in press;Bjorkqvist et al, 1992;Campbell 1999;Crick and Grotpeter, 1995;Hess, 2006;Hess andHagen, 2002, 2006a).…”