Mean Boys: Are Males More Relationally Aggressive?

[craig 680]

Interesting article about bullying:

http://www.macleans.ca/society/qa-are-boys-even-more-mean-than-mean-girls/

 

Ten years ago, Rachel McAdams’s role as Regina George in Mean Girls brought female bullying to the forefront of social consciousness. Mean girls seemed to mostly gossip, backstab and reject others. But, according to a new study from the University of Georgia, it is in fact boys who use tactics such as rumours and social exclusion to hurt others more often than their female counterparts. Mean boys? Maybe.

 

We spoke with Pamela Orpinas, the lead author on the seven-year study recently published in the journal Aggressive Behavior looking at trajectories in relational aggression from grades 6 through 12 for both males and females.

 

You use the term relational aggression. What are the different types of aggression?
Physical aggression, that’s hitting, punching, scratching someone. Verbal aggression, saying mean things to other people. But relational aggression is damaging the relationships among people. Damaging the reputation of others. It doesn’t have to be directly said to the victim. It can be indirect.

 

What are some examples of relational aggression?
Passing a rumour, posting a demeaning picture of someone on the web. Suppose that all the colleagues in your office have a party but they don’t invite you. They invite everyone else, but not you. Or someone starts saying something mean about you behind your back, but you start hearing that people are talking about you. As adults, we care less about it. But when you’re in sixth grade, seventh grade and someone is saying, “this guy is gay†or “this girl is a *****,†or “if you play with him, I’m not going to be your friend anymore,†that’s the kind of behaviour that can be really devastating for kids.

 

What did you expect to find when you started this survey?
Popular culture frequently says that girls are more relationally aggressive than boys. We have books and there are movies. There’s a lot of qualitative research about girls.

 

There have been two large [academic] meta-a--lyses and both found no difference between boys and girls in self-reported relational aggression, so we really expected to find no difference.

 

And what did you find in your study?
At every grade level for perpetration, the boys’ scores are higher than girls’. Now we found something different for victimization and there haven’t been any studies on this part, and that is that girls report more victimization.

 

How can that be?
We don’t know exactly. We have some hypotheses: girls are more sensitive to fairness, reciprocity and the importance of social relationships. A girl who is left out from a party might feel really bad, but a guy might say, “bah, I don’ care.†That’s one hypothesis. We don’t know whether that’s true or not. We do know that all kids do care about fitting in, having power, being popular, being liked by others. ...

[Sunny 12,753]

I can confirm this

[monsterdreams 1,529]

From what I know this is probably true

God I hate people

[Phoenix 17,395]

I always thought about this. And I do agree. I think boys are bigger gossipers even tho it doesn't seem that way.

[Curunir 7,510]

true. and i think it's probably because boys or men are generally more competitive than women. it's in our DNA

[xoxo cupcakke 4,781]

Hmm, I would've thought we were about the same, some more than others between both genders. They should repeat the study once more but all the way up to undergrad college or something

[Sexxx 5,737]

didn't know "relationally" was a word I would've thought relatively 

 

 

girls are b---hier for sure, but boys are more physically aggressive

[Supersonic 49,376]

true. and i think it's probably because boys or men are generally more competitive than women. it's in our DNA

 

I think it's the upbringing. Boys are taught to be really competitive and more show-off-y. I don't feel competitive in any way tbh

[Bamboo 8]

I feel like it depends.

Guys use rumors to emasculate each other usually by starting gossip about their s-xuality among other topics. Girls will literally start rumors about anything if they think it will damage someone's relationship.

Imo they're pretty equal

[Andy McQueen 4,484]

I still don't understand why people feel the need to bully anyway. I was terrible bullied as a kid/child and teenager and I still don't understand why they have done it at all - I never ever bullied or was mean to anyone. Like... What's wrong with human beings. Uggghhh

[Whispering 18,865]

Explains why ATRL and really, places like GGD and Exhale are such messes. Compare online fanforums that are made up of mostly females compared to online fanforums made up of mostly males and there is a distinct difference.

 

If I were an artist, I would much prefer a fanbase made up of young girls!

[Economy 52,861]

now a days boys gossip behind their friends backs and backstab a lot too

 

its hard to say which is worse

[Economy 52,861]

Explains why ATRL and really, places like GGD and Exhale are such messes. Compare online fanforums that are made up of mostly females compared to online fanforums made up of mostly males and there is a distinct difference.

 

If I were an artist, I would much prefer a fanbase made up of young girls!

like Taylor Swift. Her fans are actually quite respectable for the most part!!!

[Jesse Pinkman 4,660]

In my opinion, boys can be just as bad if not worse than girls. Boys gossip, backstab, and exclude just like females.

[Danny Boy 0]

Well from my personal experiences of being bullied as a kid, I can easily say that is true.