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Back off mean girls -- boys are just as mean

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An analysis of 148 studies of aggression in young kids has found -- surprise! -- that when it comes to indirect aggression -- shunning, bullying, teasing, spreading malicious gossip -- boys are as likely to do it as girls. Boys, however, best girls consistently in their propensity for physical aggression, according to the study, to be published in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development.

Lead author Noel A. Card, assistant professor of family studies at the University of Arizona, says that school officials and even mental health professionals tend to view indirect aggression as the sole province of girls, and minimize the extent to which boys punish each other and vie for social standing by indirect means. Social expectations feed that belief, and a spate of popular books, movies and TV shows, including ‘Mean Girls,’ Gossip Girl’ and ‘Privileged,’ have solidified it in the public’s mind, they say.

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The analysis concluded that kids given to physical aggression are more likely to suffer from attention problems and delinquency, and to have poorer relationships with peers. Mean girls and boys are, by contrast, more vulnerable than the aggressive ones to suffer from low self-esteem and depression.

On the bright side, however, mean girls and boys seem to score higher on measures of pro-social behavior like helping and sharing. (It turns out that if a queen or king bee is intent on spreading rumors, dominating cliques and recruiting a posse, it’s important to possess these skills.)

The research is called a ‘meta-analysis’ because it reviews studies done to date on the subject of aggression in kids. All told, the studies that this one reviewed looked at the behavior of 74,000 children and adolescents.

-- Melissa Healy

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