Compare And Contrast And Relational Aggression

Two types of aggression have been found to be prevalent among children. These two types are known as overt aggression and relational aggression. Overt aggression is the more commonly known and simplistic type of aggression that can be easily seen in kids who start fights and throw punches, whereas relational aggression is a little more complex. Relational aggression involves using the relationship you have with a person against them in order to exclude them and make them feel unwanted. An example of relational aggression seen in children would be when a child refuses to allow another child that they may be resentful towards to hang out with them or with their group of friends when they had previously gotten along fine. According to the research explained in the article, relational aggression is more commonly seen in aggressive females, and overt aggression is more commonly found when observing males. Males are more susceptible to battles of dominancy and physical

These conditions give serious insight into what could be going on for a child that resorts to relational aggression. Though it does not completely justify their actions, feeling lonely or rejected can have a large impact on the actions of a child.
Relational aggression is something that females feel is necessary to resort to because they are not ”supposed” to start fights or get physical with one another but still feel that they need some way to exact retribution against those they feel have wronged them. Though this form of aggression is more complex and at times harder to identify, it is my no means a lesser form of aggression. This kind of aggression can still have a serious impact, the impact may just be psychological instead of