GIRLS AGGRESSION

Girls Aggression

Girls Aggression

Introduction

Aggression, defined as intentional injurious or destructive behavior in girls is not a new phenomenon. Until recently, female aggression primarily involved relational aggression (i.e., aggression that damaged peer relationships as opposed to physical harm). However, physical aggression by females is becoming a more common topic in the media, research, and juvenile justice. Children use aggression as a means to socially damage peers. Furthermore, she suggested that boys used physical aggression to damage a male peer's relational image, while girls used relational aggression to achieve similar goals. In fact, if one considered relational aggression and physical aggression as equal forms of aggression, few differences would exist between the frequency of aggression among 9-13 years old girls.

Discussion

While the amount of physical aggression demonstrated by girls is still less than boys, the percentage of arrests related to physical aggression has increased for girls while decreasing for boys. Because girls have traditionally exhibited relational aggression(Bandura, 2000), interventions have logically focused on reducing this type of aggression. However, the American Bar Association (ABA) and National Bar Association (NBA) (2001) suggest that professionals should consider interventions that also target physical aggression based on the increasing trend of violence perpetrated by girls.

Social psychology of aggression

If aggression in girls is socially motivated, as many researchers have suggested(Hassandra et al., 2007), it is important to operate from a theoretical view of aggression that is also socially oriented. Therefore, for the purposes of this paper, we discuss the roots of aggression within the framework of the Social Learning Theory (SLT).

Developed as an all-encompassing theory, SLT described how individuals attain and maintain aggressive behavior, as well as what triggers aggression. This approach to aggression was one of the first to suggest that aggression was a learned behavior, rather than an innate trait(Bandura, 2000). Within SLT, (Bandura, 2000) suggested that individuals have the capability for aggression, but that the individual must first learn the behavior (origin), have situations that trigger aggression (instigators), and must have internal and external situations that reinforce the aggressive behavior (maintenance). Similarly, discussion of aggressive behavior in girls within this paper considered the origins, instigators, and maintaining conditions of aggression.

Origins of aggression

Modeling plays a major role in an individual's learning of aggression. Observation not only allows the individual to learn the directly modeled behavior, but individuals also expand on observed behaviors to develop innovative but related behavior (Bandura, 2000). According to SLT, individuals learn behavior from three modeling sources: direct (e.g., family, peers, and other close influential persons), community (e.g., town or neighborhood), and media (e.g., news, television, or internet) (Garbarino, 2006). An individual's earliest behavior is often representative of the behaviors and values of the individuals closest to him or her.

Bandura (1973) maintained that an individual's behavior is limited to behaviors similar to those of the persons with whom he or she most frequently associates. This is indicative of both pro-social and antisocial (e.g., aggressive) behavior. Early in an individual's life, these models are primarily limited to family; however, as ...