Michael E W Varnum, Amanda P Kirsch, Daniel J Beal, Cari M Pick, Laith Al-Shawaf, Chiara Ambrosio, Maria Teresa Barbato, Oumar Barry, Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat, Eduard Brandstätter, Suzan Ceylan-Batur, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Julio Eduardo Cruz, Oana David, Laina Ngom Dieng, Dimitri Dubois, Ana María Fernandez, Silvia Galdi, Oscar Javier Galindo Caballero, Sylvie Graf, Igor Grossmann, David Guzman, Peter Halama, Takeshi Hamamura, Martina Hřebíčková, Ioana Iuga, Lady Javela, Jaewuk Jung, Johannes A Karl, Jinseok P Kim, Michal Kohút, Anthonieta Looman Mafra, Dieynaba Gabrielle Ndiaye, Jiaqing O, Beatriz Perez Sánchez, Eric Roth Unzueta, Muhammad Rizwan, A Timur Sevincer, Eric Skoog, Eunkook M Suh, Daniel Sznycer, Evelina Thunell, Arnaud Tognetti, Ayse K Uskul, Jaroslava Varella Valentova, Yunsuh Nike Wee, Anja Lundkvist Winter, Torin Peter Young, Danilo Zambrano, Anna Ziska, Douglas T Kenrick
{"title":"Commonly observed sex differences in direct aggression are absent or reversed in sibling contexts.","authors":"Michael E W Varnum, Amanda P Kirsch, Daniel J Beal, Cari M Pick, Laith Al-Shawaf, Chiara Ambrosio, Maria Teresa Barbato, Oumar Barry, Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat, Eduard Brandstätter, Suzan Ceylan-Batur, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Julio Eduardo Cruz, Oana David, Laina Ngom Dieng, Dimitri Dubois, Ana María Fernandez, Silvia Galdi, Oscar Javier Galindo Caballero, Sylvie Graf, Igor Grossmann, David Guzman, Peter Halama, Takeshi Hamamura, Martina Hřebíčková, Ioana Iuga, Lady Javela, Jaewuk Jung, Johannes A Karl, Jinseok P Kim, Michal Kohút, Anthonieta Looman Mafra, Dieynaba Gabrielle Ndiaye, Jiaqing O, Beatriz Perez Sánchez, Eric Roth Unzueta, Muhammad Rizwan, A Timur Sevincer, Eric Skoog, Eunkook M Suh, Daniel Sznycer, Evelina Thunell, Arnaud Tognetti, Ayse K Uskul, Jaroslava Varella Valentova, Yunsuh Nike Wee, Anja Lundkvist Winter, Torin Peter Young, Danilo Zambrano, Anna Ziska, Douglas T Kenrick","doi":"10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf239","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decades of research support the generalization that human males tend to be more aggressive than females. However, most of that research has examined aggression between unrelated individuals. Data drawn from 24 societies around the globe (<i>n</i> = 4,013) indicate that this generalization does not hold in the context of sibling relationships. In retrospective self-reports, females report being at least as aggressive as males toward their siblings, often more so. This holds for direct as well as indirect aggression, and for aggression between adult siblings as well as aggression that occurred during childhood. Consistent with prior research on sex differences, males reported engaging in more direct aggression toward nonkin than did females in the majority of societies. The results suggest that the dynamics of aggression within the family are different from those outside of it, and ultimately that understanding the role of sex in aggressive tendencies depends on context and target.</p>","PeriodicalId":74468,"journal":{"name":"PNAS nexus","volume":"4 8","pages":"pgaf239"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12378733/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PNAS nexus","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf239","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/8/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Decades of research support the generalization that human males tend to be more aggressive than females. However, most of that research has examined aggression between unrelated individuals. Data drawn from 24 societies around the globe (n = 4,013) indicate that this generalization does not hold in the context of sibling relationships. In retrospective self-reports, females report being at least as aggressive as males toward their siblings, often more so. This holds for direct as well as indirect aggression, and for aggression between adult siblings as well as aggression that occurred during childhood. Consistent with prior research on sex differences, males reported engaging in more direct aggression toward nonkin than did females in the majority of societies. The results suggest that the dynamics of aggression within the family are different from those outside of it, and ultimately that understanding the role of sex in aggressive tendencies depends on context and target.