RELATIONAL AGGRESSION, GENDER, AND PEER ACCEPTANCE - INVARIANCE ACROSS CULTURE, STABILITY OVER TIME, AND CONCORDANCE AMONG INFORMANTS

It has been proposed that overt physical and verbal aggression are mor e prevalent among boys and that covert aggression in the context of in terpersonal relationships is more typical of girls. The purpose of thi s study was to replicate and extend American research on this topic to Italy. Italian elementary school pupils (n = 314) and their teachers provided nominations for aggression and prosocial behavior on 2 occasi ons within a single school year. Both peer and teacher nominations wer e highly stable, though there was very poor concordance between them. Peer nominations for both overt and relational aggression were linked to peer rejection. Contrary to expectations, boys scored higher than g irls in both overt and relational aggression. Nevertheless, on the bas is of the gender composition of extreme groups, the authors conclude t hat the distinction between overt and relational aggression is as usef ul in facilitating research on aggressiveness among girls in Italy as it is in the United States.