Sex Differences in Children's Verbal Aggression

Developmental patterns of sex differences in verbal aggression in children were determined by an event-sampling procedure in Study 1 that recorded the free speech of 32 nursery school children. Content analysis revealed that for children of both sexes verbal aggression was significantly more common...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 1988-10, Vol.34 (4), p.389-401
Main Authors: McCabe, Allyssa, Lipscomb, Thomas J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child psychology
Child rearing
Children
Gender differences
Grammatical gender
Hostility
Human aggression
Preschool children
RESEARCH REPORTS
Sex linked differences
Verbal aggression
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Summary:Developmental patterns of sex differences in verbal aggression in children were determined by an event-sampling procedure in Study 1 that recorded the free speech of 32 nursery school children. Content analysis revealed that for children of both sexes verbal aggression was significantly more common than, and significantly correlated with, physical aggression, but no sex differences in verbal aggression were found. In Study 2, a cross-sectional design was used to sample the free speech of first, third, fifth, and seventh grade children. An ANOVA of the raw frequencies of verbal aggression showed that only fifth grade boys produced significantly more aggressive comments than girls. However, percentages showed significant age and sex main effects. Overall, boys were proportionately more aggressive than girls, and older more so than younger. There was a significant increase with age in the proportion of verbal aggression that was hostile rather than instrumental.
ISSN:0272-930X
1535-0266