Boarding Schools for Girls

A study of 1,000 British men found that 48 percent believe that their male primary teachers had the most impact on their lives. Over 20 percent said their male teachers increased their self-confidence, and 35 percent said their teachers had encouraged them to work harder in the primary grades.

The results are significant because only 13 percent of British primary teachers are men.

Some psychologists have pointed out that with increasingly higher rates of single mothers raising boys, male teachers are often a British child's only male role model.

"Male primary school teachers can often be a stable and reliable figure in the lives of the children they teach," said Dr. Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist and government advisor.

Labels: boys, teachers

There is no truth to the myth that that girls are "cattier" than boys, according to a new study from the University of Arizona. Researchers found that boys are just as socially aggressive as girls are, and that both sexes gossip, spread rumors, and intentionally exclude others from their cliques. Many in the field assume that boys are more likely to bully and pick fights in a physical way, but girls are more likely to express aggression verbally or in written communication.

Noel Card, assistant professor of family studies and human development, researched 148 previous studies involving 74,000 children. He and his colleagues found that certain children, especially boys, are more likely to be both socially and physically aggressive.

Professor Card linked physical aggression to problems such as delinquency, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, poor social skills, and lack of empathy. Social aggression was associated with depression and low self-esteem.

This study appears in the journal Child Development.

Labels: boys, gossip, social_skills