Girls, more than boys, seek vengeance

	Tweet

Among children aged 8 through 14 injured in fights, girls are more likely than boys to get into a brawl in retaliation for previous grievances, new research reports.

Investigators found that violent events involving girls were more than six times as likely as boy-only encounters to be a “recurrence of a previous fight.”

Although the reasons for this difference remain unclear, girls at this age may simply be more “skilled” at planning violent events in response to an ongoing issue, a study author told Reuters Health.

“In contrast, young boys may react more ‘in the moment,’” noted Dr. Cynthia J. Mollen of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

In 2001 alone, more than 2,000 children between the ages of 5 and 19 were killed as a result of a violent encounter with a peer. Although fighting tends to occur more often in boys, a recent survey found that nearly one-quarter of high school girls say they were in at least one physical fight during the previous year.

To investigate the most common reasons why young girls and boys engage in violent encounters, Mollen and her colleagues surveyed 190 children between the ages of 8 and 14 who were being treated at an urban emergency department for injuries caused by violence.

Around two-thirds of the encounters were called fights, meaning both participants were actively involved, according to the team’s report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In most of the other encounters, one person was injured unexpectedly and did not fight back, which was considered an assault.

Girls were reportedly involved in nearly 4 out of 10 of the violent events. Most occurred on a weekday, and around half took place at school. Three-quarters of the encounters involved someone the patient knew.

Popular reasons for the argument involved “being disrespected,” or “teasing.” However, events that involved girls were much more likely to stem from past grievances, the authors report. Other reasons kids gave for fighting included boredom, overdoing roughhousing, peer pressure and jealousy.

These findings suggest that preventing violence among girls may often involve “teaching girls how to deal with a conflict when it first arises, rather than letting it build up over time,” Mollen suggested.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, June 2004. 

RELATED STORIES:
Why Older People are Generally Less Astute Drivers and How the Answer Could Help Us Understand Schizophrenia and Depression   External factors play part in schizophrenia   Staying active and drinking moderately is the key to a long life   Noncoding RNA may promote Alzheimer’s disease   Young kids trust adults despite evidence to the contrary   Gene variations can be barometer of behavior, choices   Is your dating partner happy?   Study Examines ADHD’s Role in Smoking   Tempting foods can trigger urge to indulge   Behavior therapy helps kids with mental disorder   Early Neglect Predicts Aggressive Behavior in Children   Childhood abuse can impact victims’ adult relationships

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]