- Title
- Boys' aggression to girls : The views of year 9 girls, boys and their teachers
- Creator
- Owens, Larry; Shute, Rosalyn; Slee, Phillip
- Date
- 2006
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/39866
- Identifier
- vital:1511
- Identifier
- ISBN:1239-873x
- Abstract
- Because children and young teenagers usually associate in same-sex groups, psychological research concerned with adolescent aggression has often concentrated on within-sex interactions. Sociological and feminist research, however, has highlighted boys’ victimization of girls, especially through sexual harassment. This paper reports a study of boy to girl aggression as perceived by boys, girls and their teachers. Focus group discussions were conducted with groups of Year 9 adolescents (aged between 14 and 15 years) across four middle class schools in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Individual interviews were also conducted with their teachers. Thematic analyses (using NUDIST software) revealed different understandings by boys, girls and teachers of the same behaviour. Girls and teachers reported that boys often use verbally offensive language including sexual harassment toward girls but boys argued that they were often not being malicious but rather just joking and that girls over-react. Boys, girls and teachers agreed that boys often harassed girls in order to impress other boys and for their own entertainment or fun. Teachers also emphasized home and cultural background factors in influencing boys’ behavior toward girls. Girls’ appearance was reported as a major contributing factor associated with boys’ victimization – while physical attractiveness could protect a girl from boys’ meanness, over-weight girls or those seen as being unattractive or “uncool” were vulnerable. However, girls were not seen universally as passive victims. Boys, girls and teachers reported that many girls respond assertively and even match boys’ aggression. Boys and girls agreed that teacher intervention was often not helpful. In contrast, teachers reported the effectiveness of school anti-harassment policies and a range of successful interventions. All three groups agreed that boys’ behavior toward girls could have devastating effects on the girl victims. This study highlights the importance of understanding behaviour from different perspectives and confirms research that emphasizes the crucial role of the peer group in influencing aggressive interactions amongst students in schools.; E1
- Publisher
- Turku, Finland : Faculty of Social and Caring Sciences
- Relation
- Paper presented at the XVI World Meeting of the International Society for Research on Aggression, Turku, Finland : 1st July, 2004 p. 91-95
- Rights
- Copyright Unknown
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Aggression; Social behaviours; Boys; Girls; Children
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