Abstract
No gender differences appeared in personality ratings of aggression/assertiveness when separate rating scales were used to rate extensive interview and test material on elderly women and men. Men were rated significantly lower in aggression on a scale created to rate women than on a scale created to rate men, and men tended to be rated as less aggressive than women on the female scale. For women, aggression was apparent in their accounts of current activities, while in men aggression was more often apparent in their renditions of past-life activities. Gender differences were most apparent in verbal aggression in interpersonal interactions. Findings are consistent with the possibility of age-related decline in aggression in men.
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This manuscript is a revised version of a paper delivered at the Second Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society, Dallas, TX.
Turner (1969) originally analyzed these data as part of her dissertation research under the direction of Sheldon S. Tobin. The project from which these data were drawn was supported by the Public Health Service Research Grant No. HD-00364 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Principal Investigator, Morton A. Lieberman.
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Turner, B.F. Gender differences in old age in ratings of aggression/assertiveness. Current Psychology 11, 122–127 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686834
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686834