According to the compensation model of aggression (Staub, 1989), some people bully to defend against their own feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Classmates and teachers rated a sample of American sixth graders in terms of trait: defensiveness (i.e., defensive egotism), self-esteem, bullying, and related behaviors. Consistent with the model,…

The current study examines 3 alternative conceptual models of the directional associations between parent involvement in schooling (homework assistance, home-school conferencing, school-based support) and child adjustment (academic and social competence, aggressive behaviors). The parent socialization model tests the hypothesis that parent…

Studies show that children who use relational aggression process social information in unique ways; however, findings have been inconsistent and limited by methodological weaknesses. This short-term longitudinal study examined developmental changes in 245 (49% female; ages 8-13) 3rd through 8th graders' normative beliefs about relational…

This study focused on mothers' affective and behavioral responses to hypothetical displays of preschoolers' relational and physical aggression. We hypothesized that lower levels of negative affect and a lower likelihood of intervening in conflicts would occur for relational aggression than for physical aggression. We also expected significant…

The differences model, which argues that males and females are vastly different psychologically, dominates the popular media. Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Results from a review of 46 meta-analyses…