| Recent research suggests that when relational aggression occurs between close friends instead of the general peer group, it has a stronger negative impact on the social and emotional well-being for both the victim and the perpetrator. This dissertation explored children's, parents', and teachers' perceptions of the frequency and the harmfulness of relational aggression within children's close friendships. Child and parent self-report also served to explore perceptions of coping strategies used by children when faced with relational aggression within their close friendships. Data were collected in a low-income urban environment from 126 fourth- and fifth-grade children, their parents, and their teachers. Results revealed that: (1) Girls perceived relationally aggressive behaviors within their friendships as more harmful than boys; (2) parents rated physical and verbal aggression as more harmful than relationally aggressive behaviors, whereas both boys and the girls overwhelmingly reported relationally aggressive behaviors as more harmful than physically and verbally aggressive behavior; (3) parents and children reported similar rankings of the methods children use to cope; (4) lastly, most of the teachers felt that only female students, not male students, face relational aggression within their friendships. Overall, perceived harmfulness is related to how the child will cope with relational aggression, and gender was not related to coping strategy use. Moreover, there was a trend suggesting that African American children who perceived relational aggression as harmful were more likely to use aggressive coping strategies. |
