University Study on Gender Differences in Response to Betrayals by Friends

Research from scholars at Duke University and Boston College finds that young girls do not cope with emotional disappointments as well as young boys. The study found that girls in the fourth and fifth grade become more upset and feel sadder than boys when their friendships are violated by their peers.

The study found that girls are just as likely as boys to seek revenge against their peers when they perceive that they have been wronged.

Julie Paquette MacEvoy, an assistant professor of education at Boston College and the lead author of the study, stated, “Our findings stand in contrast to previous research that has shown boys to experience more anger than girls in their relationships. We found that girls are in fact just as capable as boys of anger. But for girls, the anger comes out when they think that their friends have betrayed them or haven’t been there for them.”

The study, “When Friends Disappoint: Boys’ and Girls’ Responses to Transgressions of Friendship Expectations,” has been published online by the journal Child Development. The article can be accessed here.