Aggression, conflict resolution, popularity, and attitude to school in Russian adolescents

The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of aggression and conflict-managing skills on popularity and attitude to school in Russian adolescents. Three types of aggression (physical, verbal, and indirect), constructive conflict resolution, third-party intervention, withdrawal, and victimization were examined using the Peer-Estimated Conflict Behavior (PECOBE) inventory [Bjorkquist and Osterman, 1998]. Also, all respondents rated peer and self-popularity with same-sex classmates and personal attitude to school. The sample consisted of 212 Russian adolescents (101 boys, 111 girls) aged between 11 and 15 years. The findings attest to significant sex differences in aggression and conflict resolution patterns. Boys scored higher on physical and verbal aggression, and girls on indirect aggression. Girls were socially more skillful than boys in the use of peaceful means of conflict resolution (they scored higher on constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention). The attributional discrepancy index (ADI) scores were negative for all three types of aggression in both sexes. Verbal aggression is apparently more condemned in boys than in girls. ADI scores were positive for constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention in both genders, being higher in boys. In girls, verbal aggression was positively correlated with popularity. In both sexes, popularity showed a positive correlation with constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention, and a negative correlation with withdrawal and victimization. Boys who liked school were popular with same-sex peers and scored higher on constructive conflict resolution. Girls who liked school were less aggressive according to peer rating. They also rated higher on conflict resolution and third-party intervention. Physical aggression was related to age. The results are discussed in a cross-cultural perspective.     

Height preferences in humans may not be universal: Evidence from the Datoga people of Tanzania

Many studies in Western societies have shown that women prefer relatively taller men as potential partners, whereas men prefer women who are slightly shorter than themselves. Here, we discuss possible limitations of previous results within the context of the stimuli used (i.e., differences in the perceived body size of female silhouettes). Our results show that, at least in a Polish sample (N = 231), modified stimuli did not essentially change the observed male-taller preferences. In contrast, we report height preferences in a traditional ethnic group, the Datoga people from Tanzania (N = 107), in which men and women preferred extreme sexual dimorphism in stature (SDS) sets (i.e., men and women chose women much taller or much shorter than themselves). Thus, our data do not accord with the suggestion of a universal preference for taller men, but rather suggests that height preferences may be influenced by cultural, environmental, and ecological conditions.     

Aggression,friendship, and reconciliation in Russian primary schoolchildren

Aggression and reconciliation were studied in a group of 6‐ to 7‐year‐old Russian schoolchildren using the matched control approach and the two methods used in primate ethology—the postconflict period–matched control period and the time rule methods. Aggression was found to be positively correlated with friendly behavior at the dyadic level. It is demonstrated that children, like nonhuman primates, tend to reconcile within 1 min after the conflict. Victims tend to redirect aggression at other individuals. No effect of gender on reconciliation was found. The reconciliation tendency is less expressed in friends than in children who are not friends. A new reconciliation measure is introduced, and an operational definition of friendship is suggested. Aggr. Behav. 25:125–139, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.