Cultural Differences in Relational Aggression in an Elementary School-Age Sample

• Main Author: Walker, Brittany L.
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 2010
• Subjects: Children’s Social Behavior Scale; communication and culture; aggressiveness in children; child behavior in Hungary; child behavior in Germany; bullying in schools; Child Psychology; Personality and Social Contexts; Social Psychology
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/177; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=theses

The current study addressed whether there were differences in relational aggression in 9- to 10-year-old boys and girls in Hungarian and German samples. There has been very little empirical research conducted comparing children of diverse cultures in their use of relational aggression. The current study used teachers’ reports of different aggression styles observed in their 9- to 10-year-old students (N = 269). The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and styles of aggression used in a 9- to 10-year-old culturally diverse population, as it was hypothesized that culture would be a factor in the incidence of relational aggression as well as a difference in boys’ verses girls’ relational aggression within native Hungarian cultures. Data were collected from classroom teachers using the Children’s Social Behavior Scale – Teacher Form (Crick, 1996). Six sets of analyses were conducted, including the evaluation of teacher reports of relational aggression among all 160 Hungarian and all 109 German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of physical aggression among Hungarian and German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of prosocial behavior among Hungarian and German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of relational aggression among Hungarian boys and girls, the evaluation of teacher reports of physical aggression among Hungarian boys and girls, and the evaluation of teacher reports of prosocial behavior among Hungarian boys and girls. Results confirmed 2 out of 2 hypotheses. Teachers reported greater incidence of relational and physical aggression among German students. Teachers reported a greater incidence of prosocial behavior among Hungarian students. Hungarian teachers reported a greater incidence of physical aggression among boys and a greater incidence of prosocial behavior among girls. This research failed to find any differences in Hungarian boys’ and girls’ use of relational aggression in this sample. Overall, the current findings support that cultural differences exist in relational aggression, physical aggression, and prosocial behavior among a 9- to 10-year-olds. It also supported the position that gender differences exist in the use of physical aggression and prosocial behavior among a native Hungarian sample.