NCJ Number
219154
Journal
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 328-345
Date Published
July 2007
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study reviewed the literature on relational aggression (nonviolent aggression that includes demeaning actions toward another person, the social isolation of a person, and harmful rumors) and suggests that the research to date does not necessarily support the view that such aggression is exclusive to girls.
Abstract
The review found that boys as well as girls engaged in relational aggression in their interactions with both girls and with other boys as a means of venting frustration and bolstering social status and self-esteem. Relational aggression is not a predictor of developmental maladjustment; in fact, there is evidence that it is normative and desirable for youth. Aggression has the positive effects of making separation from others, individualization, competition, achievement, and the initiation of new relationships possible. There is not sufficient research evidence to show that girls are particularly inclined to use and/or approve of relational aggression. Relational aggression is not illegal, and any focus on it as a serious deviance would expand the net of juvenile justice intervention to youth who are not even at risk of involvement in illegal physical violence. Even if intervention to correct relational aggression for both boys and girls were used to improve youths' social skills in school and in peer or family settings, it should not be viewed as an effective means of preventing violence. Some psychologists question any approach that aims to discourage girls from expressing anger and aggression while submitting to adult and peer controls. 72 references