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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

relational aggression, electronic aggression, nonverbal aggression

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

Abstract

“Relational aggression” defines a spectrum of behaviors in which the goal is to manipulate or harm relationships. Common behaviors include gossip, rumors, social exclusion, and threatening to end a relationship. Until relational aggression became a focus of study, males were considered to be aggressive whereas females were generally considered nonaggressive. In particular, aggression research, particularly in child psychology, was predominantly focused on physical forms of aggression, which tend to be the domain of males. In contrast, females are just as likely or more likely (depending on age) to engage in relational aggression toward others. We wanted to find out if there were differences is the expression of relational aggression between adolescent boys and girls, and to then compare those findings across cultures and continents.

Included in

Sociology Commons

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