When let down,girls feel more upset

When let down,girls feel more upset

    Girls are just as likely to feel offended or sad as boys, especially when let down by friends. In a study by an international university, researchers found that pre-teen girls may not be any better at friendships than boys, despite previous research suggesting otherwise. The study was co-authored by Julie Paquette MacEvoy assistant professor and Steven Asher, professor of psychology and neuroscience. The findings suggest that when more serious violations of a friendship occur, girls struggle just as much and, in some ways, even more than boys.
    The girls were as likely as boys to verbally attack the friend who told one of their secrets to other children. The girls also reported being more bothered by the transgressions, felt more anger and sadness, and were more likely to think the offense meant their friend did not care about them or was trying to control them.
    MacEvoy and Asher showed 267 fourth and fifth-grade children 16 hypothetical stories in which they were asked to imagine that a friend violated a core expectation of friendship. For each story, the nine to 11-year-olds were asked how they would feel if the incident really happened.
    “Our finding that girls would be just as vengeful and aggressive toward their friends as the boys is particularly interesting because past research has consistently shown boys to react more negatively following minor conflicts with friends,” Asher said. The study found that anger and sadness played significant roles in how boys and girls reacted to offending friends.