Gender Differences in Developmental Links among Antisocial Behavior - Lab Report Example

Reflection Paper on Gender Differences in Developmental Links Among Antisocial Behavior, Friends’ Antisocial Behavior, and Peer Rejection in Childhood: Results From Two Cultures Name University Abstract Increasing trends among people to display antisocial attitude has drawn the attention of theorists and researchers towards itself in the contemporary society. Antisocial behavior is not necessarily a display of physical assault or exchange of harsh words or abusive language. It involves all such attitudes and actions that keep an individual socially isolated or in some cases, socially excluded. The individual does not take active participation in social activities and is reluctant to make much public appearance. Usually, people who display such behavior have been doing it since childhood and their isolation only gains strength and dominance as they reach adulthood. Antisocial behavior could find its roots in gender or culture. Studies have shown that girls tend to be more prosocial as compared to boys which tells that social behavior can be said to be gender specific. On the other hand, increasing trends towards displaying antisocial behavior could also be attributed to the cultural diversion in societies. People could be antisocial because of xenophobia, or else because they face linguistic barriers in a society they are new to. There is need to explore such trends so that measures can be taken to increase the social orientation and exposure of individuals for a more solid and united nation. Introduction: As the influence of technology has caused a general increase in networking and connectedness, individuals displaying antisocial behavior have started to become more and more prominent and noticed. Considerable amount of research has been conducted to identify the factors that make an individual antisocial. Such factors include but are not limited to personality traits, friend’s rejection, parental divorce, involvement in crime and social exclusion. An analysis of these factors suggests that many of them are preexisting traits in an individual’s personality right from the very early years of life. However, little work has been conventionally done to realize the factors that cause an individual to continuously and increasingly indulge in such practices that would make him/her antisocial, and deviate from the vast majority of people that generally remain very social, and consider socialization as a necessary trait of humanity. Many people have remained very social in the early years of their life. Gradually, they encounter such circumstances that cause them to be more and more antisocial. There is need to explore the factors that mutually work to make an individual antisocial over the course of time. This paper is a reflection on such a study, that was conducted by Lier et al (2005) to study the gradual influence of friends’ antisocial behavior and peer rejection on an individual’s behavior. Study of gender’s response to such behaviors from friends and family was also part of the study. Methodology: In order to achieve their objectives, Lier at al (2005) studied the developmental trajectories in 289 Dutch and 445 French-Canadian children between 7 and 10, and 9 and 12 years of age respectively. In this way, there were two samples to be studied, one constituting the Dutch children and the other consisting of the French-Canadian children. For the Dutch sample, children belonging to 1st through 4th grades were asked to nominate their peers and friends of either sex that fit well into all of the four behavioral categories and grade them with respect to them. The four basic traits of antisocial behavior chosen were, “starts fights, angers easily, says mean thing to peers, and, is disruptive” (Lier et al, 2005, p. 844). On the other hand, the French-Canadian children belonging to 3rd through 6th grades were required to similarly grade their friends and peers of either sex with respect to “starts fights, is disruptive, says he can beat up everybody, and ridicules/makes fun of others” (Lier et al, 2005, p. 845). Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) was used to study the developmental trajectories in either case. Conclusion: As a result of their study, Lier et al (2005) discovered that boys were generally exposed to more antisocial behavior as compared to girls. Repulsion among boys was more dominant and widespread than among girls. Therefore, boys displayed higher antisocial trajectories than girls that essentially means more antisocial behavior than girls. Fewer girls displayed moderately antisocial behavior than boys. This can be attributed to the fact that fewer friends offended the girls than boys. However, friends neither accepted moderately antisocial girls nor moderately antisocial boys. Both were equally susceptible to rejection by friends. The study concluded that affiliation with peers and friends play a fundamental and decisive role in the developmental trajectories of individuals, yet the trends varied considerably from gender to gender. The “take home” message is that boys offend one another more often than girls and also display more antisocial behavior than girls. The findings were indeed, a bit surprising as boys are generally known to be more care free and relaxed as compared to girls. Girls are usually very possessive about their respect and modesty. Slight display of humiliation by a friend tends to develop gap between a girl and her friend. Also, girls take more interest in person oriented talks. Girls generally discuss and are affected by one another’s behavior more than boys. That is why, girls are known to be more sensitive and delicate as compared to boys. Given the generally known traits of femininity and masculinity, it was surprising to know that boys were more affected by friends antisocial behavior as compared to girls. People might have controversial views about the matter. Accordingly, more research is likely to be conducted to verify the conclusions of the research of Lier et al (2005). Behavior and its relation and influence to a persons culture and gender: Behavior of an individual is indeed, both a combination and a reflection of his/her culture and gender. The research conducted by lier et al (2005) maintained that girls built more solid and intimate relationships as compared to boys. This is contrary to the general consensus that girls frequently disengage and re-engage with their friends while boys tend to maintain the same profile of emotional affiliation with their friends. This speaks in favor of more solidarity in boys’ relationship with one another as compared to that of girls’. Hence, it sounds a bit doubtful to refer to girls’ relations with their friends as more solid than that of boys’. Some cultures induce conservatism in their members. People from certain cultures tend to be more open and expressive in their relationships as compared to those from other cultures. The level of intimacy an individual maintains in his/her relations is governed by the social and cultural norms, trends, values and traditions in addition to the individual’s gender. More and more cultures have mixed into one another in the contemporary world as the world increasingly takes the shape of a global village. Also, a lot of people have developed competence in speaking second language that similar looking individuals from different cultures can hardly be traced back to their origins. On the other hand, there are linguistic and cultural barriers that hinder easy or conflict-free interaction between individuals. This has served to develop a general consensus that people have become more antisocial today than they were in the past. Children generally tend to believe that they are right in maintaining an antisocial behavior towards their friends and peers as they see that their prosocial counterparts experience verbal and physical assault and oppression as a result of their frequent interaction with their friends. It is not uncommon for prosocial children to be criticized for the overt expression of their thoughts and ideas. When this happens, antisocial children further solidify their beliefs and visualize their silo-mentality as the way out of social injustice and criticism. References: Lier, P. A. C., Vitaro, F., Wanner, B., Vuijk, P., and Crijnen, A. A. M. (2005). Gender Differences in Developmental Links Among Antisocial Behavior, Friends’ Antisocial Behavior, and Peer Rejection in Childhood: Results From Two Cultures. Child Development. 76(4): 841-855. Read More