The University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development and Center for Excellence in Children's Mental Health jointly propose a series of conferences on relational aggression targeted at leading researchers in the field and community stakeholders and key informants in Minnesota. Aggression research, prevention and intervention are national priorities. However, the majority of past discussions of aggressive behavior have been limited in two crucial ways: (1) aggressive boys have received most of the empirical attention while aggressive girls have often been excluded from relevant studies;and (2) physical forms of aggression have been emphasized while alternative forms that are more salient to girls have largely been ignored. Relational aggression is the most common type of interpersonal violence among girls. In relational aggression the primary threats are damage to relationships rather than physical harm. Numerous studies have documented the harmful, injurious nature of relationally aggressive acts. However this work is not widely known nor applied in the service and research communities. In addition there are many unanswered questions about the characteristics of relational aggression in diverse cultural communities. The objectives of these conferences will be to disseminate information regarding relational aggression to the practice and research communities;gather qualitative data to inform future research on relational aggression in diverse cultural communities;and facilitate community/university collaboration and dialogue concerning relational aggression in children and adolescents. Specifically, we will provide opportunities 1) to increase awareness of relational aggression among both researchers and community stakeholders;2) disseminate current research;3) engage in dialogues between cultural communities and university researchers to improve understanding of cross-cultural aspects of relational aggression;4) stimulate interest in effective prevention and intervention;and 5) facilitate discussions of next steps in both research and intervention.
The long-range goals of this conference series are to stimulate new research on relational aggression, increase knowledge about relational aggression and insure effective translation and application of this knowledge in community settings. Successful pursuit of these goals can lead to prevention of and/or amelioration of the impact of relational aggression in our families, schools and communities.
