Relational aggression: Not just a female issue☆,☆☆

Increased media attention to youth violence perpetrated by early adolescent girls over the past two decades and increased arrests of girls has disproportionately impacted girls of color, specifically African American girls. Research on issues, policies, and programs for girls of color at heightened risk for aggression and violence perpetration has remained limited. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in English from January 1999 to December 2022 to better understand and identify the types of aggressive and violent behaviors in which African American early adolescent girls in urban locations engage as well as risk and protective factors associated with identified behaviors. In our systematic search of five databases, we captured 1,206 studies that were potentially relevant to our review. Removing duplicate studies and conducting title/abstract and full-text review resulted in the identification of 20 studies that met pre-specified review eligibility criteria. Synthesis of information that was systematically extracted from these 20 included studies revealed that in a little over two decades, few studies have examined aggressive and violent behaviors among early adolescent African American girls, although such research is critical to developing effective intervention and prevention strategies to support the healthy development of this group of young people.

Relational aggression and its functional subtypes (proactive and reactive) are associated with various adverse outcomes. Impulsivity has known associations with aggression, but less is known about its role in relational aggression, particularly at the facet level, and the implications such a relationship might have for prevention and intervention efforts.

An Australian community sample was recruited from social media platforms (N = 637), consisting of 352 (55.3 %) females, 281 (44.1 %) males, and 4 (0.6 %) who self-described. Participant ages ranged from 18 to 82 years (M = 53.24, SD = 13.25). Participants completed a brief online self-report survey.

We fit four path models to explore the relationship between facet-level impulsivity and reactive and proactive relational aggression. For females, positive associations between positive urgency and proactive relational aggression (β = 0.20, p = .007), negative urgency and reactive relational aggression (β = 0.26, p < .001), and sensation seeking and reactive relational aggression were evident (β = 0.11, p = 0.041), as was a negative relationship between sensation seeking and proactive relational aggression (β = -0.12, p = .043). For males, a positive association between negative urgency and reactive relational aggression was identified (β = 0.24, p < .001).

Proactive and reactive relational aggression may be more likely to occur during the experience of intense emotions (i.e., positive and negative urgency). Both subtypes appear to require forethought and planning, indicating there may be substantial conceptual and cognitive overlap between the two relational aggression functions.

Bullying and peer victimization in school are serious concerns for students, parents, teachers, and school officials in the U.S. and around the world. This article reviews risk factors associated with bullying and peer victimization in school within the context of Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework. This review integrates empirical findings on the risk factors associated with bullying and peer victimization within the context of micro- (parent–youth relationships, inter-parental violence, relations with peers, school connectedness, and school environment), meso- (teacher involvement), exo- (exposure to media violence, neighborhood environment), macro- (cultural norms and beliefs, religious affiliation), and chronosystem (changes in family structure) levels. Theories that explain the relationships between the risk factors and bullying behavior are also included. We then discuss the efficacy of the current bullying prevention and intervention programs, which is followed by directions for future research.