Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T01:45:08.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Warriors and worriers: Gender and psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Carolyn Zahn-Waxler
Carolyn Zahn-Waxler*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health
*
Address reprint requests to: Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Ph.D., Building 15K, NIH, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Antisocial behaviors in females may differ from more prototypically “male” patterns of aggression, violence, and criminality that dominate criteria for conduct problems in diagnostic systems. This raises questions of how to define and investigate conduct problems in females as well as how to identify differential childhood antecedents. A developmental psychopathology perspective is advanced as one useful approach to understanding adaptive and maladaptive social patterns in males and females that may lead to different developmental trajectories and influence the forms of psychopathology that develop. The utility of de-emphasizing serious physical aggression as one important criteria for conduct problems is questioned. Recommendations that particular forms of deviance in females be considered as markers of their antisocial patterns (e.g., somatic complaints, friendlessness, underachievement) are also called into question. Rather than adopt sex-specific criteria to assess conduct problems, it is necessary to expand and broaden the diagnostic categories to include serious externalizing problems regardless of whether they occur in males or females.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 5 , Issue 1-2 , Winter-Spring 1993 , pp. 79 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Bayles, K., Bennett, D. S., Ridge, B., & Brown, M. M. (1991). Origins of externalizing behavior problems at eight years of age. In Pepler, D. & Rubin, K. (Eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Brody, L. R. (1985). Gender differences in emotional development: A review of theories and research. Journal of Personality, 53(2), 102–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, S. B., & Ewing, L. J. (1990). Follow-up of hard-to-manage preschoolers: Adjustment at age 9 and predictors of continuing symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31(6), 871–889.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., & Bern, D. J. (1987). Moving against the world: Life-course patterns of explosive children. Developmental Psychology, 23(2), 308–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., Lynam, D., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1993). Unraveling girls' delinquency: Biological, dispositional and contextual contributions to adolescent misbehavior. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condrey, J. C., & Ross, D. F. (1985). Sex and aggression: The influence of gender label on the perception of aggression in children. Child Development, 51, 943–967.Google Scholar
Crockenberg, S., & Litman, C. (1990). Autonomy and competence in 2-year-olds: Maternal correlates of child defiance, compliance, and self-assertion. Developmental Psychology, 26(6), 961–971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Earls, F. (1987). Sex differences in psychiatric disorders: Origins and developmental influences. Psychiatric Developments, 1, 1–23.Google Scholar
Earls, F., & Jung, K. G. (1987). Temperament and home environment characteristics as causal factors in the early development of childhood psychopathology. American Academy of Child and Adoles-cent Psychiatry, 26, 491–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., & Lennon, R. (1983). Sex differences in empathy and related capacities. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 100–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eme, R. F. (1979). Sex differences in childhood psychopathology: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 86(3), 574–595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, P. J., Lahey, B. B., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Christ, M. G., & Hanson, K. (1992). Familial risk factors to oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder: Parental psychopathology and maternal parenting. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(1), 49–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodenough, F. (1931). Anger in young children. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Harris, A. R. (1977). Sex and theories of deviance: Toward a functional theory of deviant type-scripts. American Sociological Review, 42(1), 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, P. J., & Arbuthnot, J. (1985). Affective empathy and cognitive role-taking in delinquent and nondelinquent youth. Adolescence, 20, 323–333.Google ScholarPubMed
Lewis, D. O., Lovely, R., Yeager, C., & Femina, D. D. (1989). Toward a theory of the genesis of violence: A follow-up study of delinquents. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(3), 431–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. O., Yeager, M. A., Cobham-Portorreal, C., Klein, N., Showalter, & Anthony, A. (1990). A follow-up of female delinquents: Maternal contributions to the perpetuation of deviance. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(2), 197–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O. (1992). The association between antisocial personality and somatization disorders: A review and integration of theoretical models. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 641–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1986). Family factors as correlates and predictors of juvenile conduct problems and delinquency. In Torrey, M. & Morris, N. (Ed.), Crime and justice (Vol. 7, pp. 29–149). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lytton, H. (1990). Child and parent effects in boys' conduct disorder: A reinterpretation. Developmental Psychology, 26(5), 683–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lytton, H., & Romney, D. (1991). Parents' differential socialization of boys and girls: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 267–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1980). Sex differences in aggression: A rejoinder and reprise. Child Development, 51, 964–980.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Magnusson, D. (1988). Individual development from an interactional perspective: A longitudinal study. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Malatesta, C. Z., & Haviland, J. (1982). Learning display rules: The socialization of emotion expression in infancy. Child Development, 53, 991–1003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, N., Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P., Hetherington, E. M., & Clingempeel, W. G. (1993). Externalizing in preschoolers and early adolescents: A cross-study replication of a family model. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, K. B., & Sorell, G. T. (1989). Factors affecting self-esteem, depression, and negative behaviors in sexually abused female adolescents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 677–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1987). Sex differences in unipolar depression: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 257–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Girgus, J. S., and Seligman, M. E. P. (1992). Predictors and consequences of child-hood depressive symptoms: A 5-year longitudinal study. Abnormal Psychology, 10(3), 405–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parke, R. D., & Slaby, R. G. (1983). The development of aggression. In Hetherington, E. M. (Ed.), Hand-book of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality and social development (pp. 547–641). New york: Wiley.Google Scholar
Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1989). Family interaction patterns and children's behavior problems from in-fancy to 4 years. Developmental Psychology, 25(3), 413–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pianta, R. C., & Caldwell, C. B. (1990). Stability of externalizing symptoms from kindergarten to first grade and factors related to instability. Developmental Psychopathology, 2, 247–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reich, W., Herjanic, B., Welner, Z., & Gandhy, P. R. (1982). Development of a structured psychiatric interview for children: Agreement on diagnosis comparing child and parent interviews. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 10(4), 325–336.Google ScholarPubMed
Richman, N., Stevenson, J., & Graham, P. J. (1982). Preschool to school: A behavioral study. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Robins, L. N. (1991). Conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32(1), 193–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., & Price, R. K. (1991). Adult disorders predicted by childhood conduct problems: Results from the NIMH epidemiologic catchment area project. Psychiatry, 54, 116–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, S. L., Rose, S. A., & Feldman, J. R. (1989). Stability of behavior problems in very young children. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 5–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, H., Tesla, C., Kenyon, B., & Lollis, S. (1990). Maternal intervention in toddler peer conflict: The socialization of principles of justice. Developmental Psychology, 26(6), 994–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegal, M. (1987). Are sons and daughters treated more differently by fathers than mothers? Developmental Review, 7, 183–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smetana, J. G. (1989). Toddlers' social interactions in the context of moral and conventional transgressions in the home. Developmental Psychology, 25(4), 499–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tieger, T. (1980). On the biological basis of sex differences in aggression. Child Development, 51, 943–963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., & Barrett, K. C. (1991). Guilt and empathy: Sex differences and implications for the development of depression. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Cambridge Studies in Social and Emotional Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Iannotti, R. J., Cummings, E. M., & Denham, S. (1990). Antecedents of problem behaviors in children of depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 271–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zoccolillo, M. (1993). Gender and the development of conduct disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 65–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar