Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Promise and Problems: Aggression in Male Led Preadolescent Girls Group Treatment

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Clinical Social Work Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper discusses different forms of aggression exhibited by children and challenges previous conclusions that boys are more aggressive than girls. After an analysis of how aggression manifests in girls who have experienced significant environmental deficits, transferential issues between male practitioners and female youth clients are considered. Finally, group psychotherapy is proposed as an appropriate modality for containing aggression and addressing the needs of girls who struggle with social disturbances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Braucher, D. (2000). Projective identification: A request for a relationship. Clinical Social Work Journal, 28, 71–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, A. M. (2005). Girls, aggression and emotional regulation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 334–339.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R. (1997). Engagement in gender normative versus nonnormative forms of aggression: Links to social-psychological adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 33, 610–617.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, M. H. (2002). Exclusion in girls’ peer groups: Ethnographic analysis of language practices on the playground. Human Development, 45, 392–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, D. C. (1984). Bion’s “Containing” and Winnicott’s “holding” in the context of the group matrix. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 34, 201–213.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 27, 99–110.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto, S. K. (2002). The challenges of male practitioners working with female youth clients. Child & Youth Care Forum, 31, 257–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto, S. K. (2003). The function of professional boundaries in the therapeutic relationship between male practitioners and female youth clients. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 20, 303–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto, S. K. (2004). Relational aggression of girls in treatment: A challenge for male practitioners. Residential Treatment for Children and Youth, 21, 89–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rioch, M. J. (1970). The work of wilfred bion on groups. Psychiatry, 33, 56–66.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, L. (2005). Qualifications and tasks of the therapist in group therapy with children. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30, 95–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheidlinger, S. (1977). Group therapy for “latency-age” children: A bird’s eye view. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 6, 40–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultze-Krumbholz, A., & Scheithauer, H. (2009). Social-behavioral correlates of cyberbullying in a German student sample. Journal of Psychology, 217, 224–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slavson, S. R. (1943). Introduction to group therapy. New York, New York: The Commonwealth Fund.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1969). The use of the object. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 50, 711–716.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 100 State St. Suite 2A, Teaneck, NJ, 07666, USA

    David Strauss

Authors
  1. David Strauss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Strauss.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Strauss, D. Promise and Problems: Aggression in Male Led Preadolescent Girls Group Treatment. Clin Soc Work J 39, 270–278 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-010-0290-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-010-0290-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation