Citation

French DC, Jansen EA, Pidada S. Child Dev. 2002; 73(4): 1143-1150.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington 61702, USA. dfrench@titan.iwu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12146739

Abstract

Descriptions of disliked peers provided by U.S. (N = 104) and Indonesian (N = 120) 11- and 14-year-old children were coded for references to physical, verbaL and three types of relational aggression (i.e., relationship manipulation, social ostracism, and malicious rumors). Physical aggression was mentioned more frequently by boys, adolescents, and Indonesians, whereas no significant differences emerged for verbal aggression. Girls in both countries described peers as engaging in the three types of relational aggression more frequently than did boys. Findings that relational aggression was spontaneously mentioned suggests that this is a salient feature of children's lives and its emergence is not attributable to the use of questionnaires and imposed category systems. The widespread existence of this gender difference is suggested by its prominence in two cultures that differ in individualism and collectivism, gender roles, and attitudes toward aggression.

Language: en