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"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." - Henry Miller

AGGRESSION AND GENDER

The web site of the American School Board Journal (http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html) discusses the rising incidence of violence in the schools.  In this report, these findings from the research of Alan Leschied and Anne Cummings on aggression and gender are cited:

* Boys typically use physical or direct aggression, while girls tend to use social or indirect aggression, which often takes the form of insults and verbal threats.

* Aggressive behavior seldom diminishes after adolescence. For boys, half who were violent at age 10 continued to be violent at 16; for girls, about 8 percent remained violent over the same age span.

* By age 11 girls undergo a "drastic shift" in the ways they relate to others. At this age aggressive girls use conscious manipulation, such as spreading gossip and rumors, with even more stealth and purpose. Many girls become more physically aggressive at this age as well, often settling matters of jealousy and revenge among their peer groups and cliques by punching and fighting.

* Girls who are chronically absent from school tend to be more aggressive and run a high risk of dropping out. Girls who experience social rejection in school are also likely to become aggressive.

* Aggressive girls are likely to come from families with weak parent-child attachments. Serious conflicts and regular quarrels with parents raise the likelihood that girls will be highly aggressive.

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