October 7, 2004
Child development expert to talk about aggression in girls
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – An expert on aggressive behavior in children will speak at Purdue University on Oct. 21 about her studies on how girls show hostility and what might be done to respond to it more effectively.
Nicki Crick, director of the Crick Social Development Lab at the University of Minnesota, will be the speaker for the Eva Goble Lecture Series, sponsored by Purdue's School of Consumer and Family Sciences and the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing. She will talk about "Childhood Aggression and Gender: Boys Will Be Boys, but What About Girls?"
Most studies about aggressive behavior in children have focused on boys and on physical expressions of aggression, Crick said. For more than six years, her studies, conducted mainly in girls, have shown that rather than physically harming others, some children retaliate by using social exclusion or rumor spreading, which is called relational aggression.
"By finding out more about how this form of aggression works, how it develops and its underlying causes, we hope to create an opportunity for intervention and prevention that could make childhood a happier time for girls and boys," Crick said.
Crick is director of undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development. Her specialties are relational and overt aggression, peer victimization and social information processing.
The program will start at 4:30 p.m. in the East/West Faculty Lounges of the Purdue Memorial Union. The lecture is free and open to the public but seating is limited, so reservations should be made prior to Oct. 21 by calling (800) 535-7303 or (756) 494-7890.
The Eva Goble Lecture Series honors the dean emerita of the School of Consumer and Family Sciences and her contributions to the people of Indiana. Goble was dean from 1967 to 1973. Among her accomplishments, she maximized the Cooperative Extension Service's network to better acquaint people across the state with Purdue. Goble also was instrumental in establishing Twin Pines cooperative house. In 1972, she was the first recipient of Purdue's Frederick L. Hovde Award of excellence, which honors a Purdue staff member who contributes to the progress of rural Indiana.
Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, news.writer@purdue.edu
Sources: Rita Hipps, Child Development and Family Studies, (765) 494-9511, hipps@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
To the News Service home page