Active Aggression in Boys and Passive Aggression in Girls

Introduction

In understanding moral and ethical development of individuals, we have been exposed to a vast amount of information enlightening us of the complex ways in which both males and females cognitively develop their moral and ethical values. Through this we have learned about the many gender differences in these values, which has raised the question of why males and females branch apart in this development, when the separation occurs, and if it is a result biological differences, or socialization. In studying violence, in particular, the two directions seem to lead further and further apart as most research shows that boys act more physically aggressive than girls. In fact, most books available on youth violence, and even studies done in the past, focus on the male population because that is where it seems to be most prevalent. "…Teenage girls are arrested far less frequently for serious violent crime than boys (a ratio of one to eight)" (Siegal & Senna, 1991, 56). Why does this drastic form of aggression occur to an extreme in young males, and can the same epidemic be forming in young females? To answer this question information has been gathered and a questionnaire formed to assess peoples’ views on gender differences in aggression and what factors contribute to it.

Gilligan and Garbarino: Opinions on Violence in Boys

The first research that I encountered was James Gilligan’s M.D. book (1996) titled, "VIOLENCE." Gilligan separates the "epidemic" of violence into three areas; "The Pathology of Violence," "The ‘Germ Theory’ of Violence," and "The Epidemology of Violence." His research shows that people act violently as a means to attain, what to them is, justice. Gilligan found that most violent males, on an individua...

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...intage Books.

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