Social Status & Adolescents
Noakes and Rinaldi (2006) studied the different types of conflict experienced by adolescents, and found that boys tended to have conflict over status/dominance, whereas girls tended to have more relational issues. This approach to gender differences in sources of conflict is pervasive in studies of all age groups, but less is known about dominance structures within the female group. Sippola et al (2007) review the dominance structures of teenage girls in the context of the perceived growth in teen-girl violence, in a chapter in Aggression and Adaptation: The Bright Side to Bad Behavior (Hawley et al).
Oldehinkel et al (2007) found that different areas of social status correlated with differential risk of depression, in a fascinating "peer nomination" model. Boys who were not rated as being "good at sports" by their peers had a higher risk of depression, whereas girls who were rated low on "being liked" were more likely to be depressed.
I'm baffled by this framing issue, and surprised that I was not able to find more studies like Oldehinkel's that use other student's ratings to assess social status. I'm also surprised that there seems to be so little acknowledgement of any "status" structure in the social workings of girls' society. I should clarify my obvious bias on this point: I was painfully aware, all through elementary school and high school, of being the "least popular" student in my classes. Even now, I spend more energy thinking about social status than is strictly healthy.
Oldehinkel et al (2007) found that different areas of social status correlated with differential risk of depression, in a fascinating "peer nomination" model. Boys who were not rated as being "good at sports" by their peers had a higher risk of depression, whereas girls who were rated low on "being liked" were more likely to be depressed.
I'm baffled by this framing issue, and surprised that I was not able to find more studies like Oldehinkel's that use other student's ratings to assess social status. I'm also surprised that there seems to be so little acknowledgement of any "status" structure in the social workings of girls' society. I should clarify my obvious bias on this point: I was painfully aware, all through elementary school and high school, of being the "least popular" student in my classes. Even now, I spend more energy thinking about social status than is strictly healthy.