Rethinking Indirect Aggression: The End of the Mean Girl Myth

Abstract

Although much has been made of the "mean girl" and her use of indirect aggression, this cross-cultural study of 5,789 adolescents from six countries (Austria, Canada, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland) found that significantly more boys (46.8%) than girls (31.7%) reported using indirect aggression against peers. Additionally, because females reported an almost 19 times higher probability than males for using indirect aggression against opposite sex peers, males are by far the more likely targets of indirect aggression-thus suggesting that indirect aggression is a male, not a female, issue. © 2013 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.