Gender & Aggression: Contributing Factors & Developmental Course
Nicholas D (Dick) Reppucci
Department of Psychology
Although boys continue to outnumber girls as the perpetrators of aggressive and violent behaviour, there has been a consistent trend toward increasing levels of aggression and violence among girls. The prognosis for these girls is very poor. Unfortunately the vast majority of research on aggression and violence focuses exclusively on boys and men. The small but significant body of research that exists on aggression and violence in girls is clouded by sample and methodological variability, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the causes, correlates and consequences of this behavior. Despite urgent calls for gender-specific intervention strategies for aggressive girls, gaps in the literature have made it difficult to design empirically-validated interventions.
It is therefore imperative that we move toward the articulation of a comprehensive developmental model of gender and aggression that considers the role of social, psychological and environmental factors and accounts for the findings in both normative and clinical/forensic populations. Rather than investigate the gender gap between girls and boys in aggressive behavior and how this gap may be changing, it appears more effective at this time, to focus resources on in-depth studies of the factors that contribute to aggression in girls. Although comparisons between normative and clinical samples are helpful in identifying common causes and correlates, more energy must be focused on securing samples of high-risk girls. As such, we have focused our investigation on the factors that contribute to the pathways of girls within forensic populations. We are examining a host of potential risk factors for the continuation of aggressive behavior, including: poor social and mental health functioning and victimization, as well as potential resiliency factors that may help girls to move back toward a normative developmental trajectory.
More information at www.virginia.edu
Project Sponsored By: Simon Fraser University
Start Date: 1/1/2004
- End Date: 12/31/2007
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