The purpose of the study conducted by Laura M. Crothers, Julaine E. Field, and Jered B. Kolbert (2005) investigated relational aggression in adolescent girls, and the power dynamic between girl’s friendships. Relational-aggression in adolescent girls negatively impacts their need for emotional intimacy or closeness to peers, as well as being detrimentally to girl’s emotional wellbeing and identity. Crothers et al. (2005) hypothesized that adolescent girls who had a traditional feminine gender identity would use relational-aggression to assert control and resolve conflicts with their female peers. In contrast to adolescent girls with a nontraditional feminine gender identity on the BSRI (sex-role inventory).
Participants
The study sampled ninth grader (76.9%) and tenth graders (23.1%) adolescent girls in a predominantly white high school in the mid-Atlantic United States. The mean age of participants was 15 years from diverse backgrounds, as follows; white (69.2%), African American (11.5%), Latina (3.8%), Native American (1.9%), multiracial (13.5%). The students came from a middleclass family ($40,106, median income) in which 85% of the residents were high school graduates and 20% college educated (bachelor’s degree or higher). The sample size (N=52) female participants, predominantly White Caucasian. …show more content…
The RAS (Relational Aggression Scale) and BSRI (Bem Sex-Role Inventory, 1981a). The reliability and validity on the RAS has not been yet established, while the BSRI is well established and widely employed. One potential variable that may have influenced the data is when researcher asked probing questions on responses as participants may have responded in a manner confirming to social