Sex Roles, Vol. 10, Nox 9/10, 1984 The Effects of Sex-Role Taking on Children's Responses to Aggressive Conflict Situations Sheryl L. Olson 2 University of Maine The effects of sex-role taking on children's responses to aggressive conflict sit- uations were investigated in the present study. Subjects were 40 boys and girls aged 8-9, who were asked to take the role of boy and girl story characters in- volved in the following kinds of aggressive situations: victim of a verbal attack, victim of a physical attack, and witness to an attack upon a friend. A significant interaction effect between type of conflict situation and sex of story character was obtained. Subjects expected boy characters to retaliate more strongly than girl characters when intervening in an attack upon a friend, and girl characters to retaliate more strongly than boy characters when being verbally or physically assaulted. These findings suggest the importance of situational factors in deter- mining children's sex-stereotyped expectations for aggressive retaliation. Studies of sex differences in childhood aggression have consistently shown that boys are more often the victims, as well as the initiators, of peer-directed phys- ical aggression (Shortell & Biller, 1970; Patterson, Littman, & Bricker, 1976; Whiting & Pope, 1974). One explanation for this phenomenon is that children learn, through socialization processes, to view boys as the more aggressive sex 0Vlischel, 1970). According to this hypothesis, children then use knowledge of sex-role appropriate behaviors to mediate their responses to frustrating inter- personal situations. 1 The author is grateful to John E. Bates for his valuable contributions to the present study. Special thanks are also due to Ruth Schneider, Jerry Dowis, and the principal, teachers, and students of Grandview Elementary School, Bloomington, Indiana. 2 Correspondence should be sent to the author, Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469. 817 0360-0025/84/0500-0817503.50/0 © 1984Plenum PublishingCorporation