Adrienne Banny, doctoral candidate at the Institute of Child Development, sat down with Marti and Erin Erickson to talk about relational aggression on the Mom Enough show on November 25.
In Cut to the Quick: The Consequences of Relational Aggression among Our Sons & Daughters, Banny discussed research findings that now show that relational aggression is used among girls and boys both as a strategy to increase their popularity and social status.
Banny says that the key for parents in dealing with this kind of aggression is to start discussing this kind of behavior early, before the influence of peers become strong. “Opening up a dialogue with your child about relational aggression and about responsible use of social media at an early age kind of sets the stage for an ongoing conversation about it. It’s not going to be a one-time talk about it, this is going to need to be an ongoing kind of conversation.”
Further, Banny says that parents and adults can combat this behavior in a broader sense by discussing ways to accomplish social goals without using relational aggression, to therefore decrease the acceptability of using relational aggression as a way to gain social rewards.
To find out more, you may listen to the Mom Enough show at: http://www.momenough.com/?p=5261