Abstract

Women and girls will often deny what they feel and think to maintain their relationships. Silencing the self can be detrimental to the physical and mental health of teenage girls. This stifling of the self is related to depression, earlier first intercourse, eating disorders, and less relationship satisfaction. Girls who silence their voices are also likely to have difficulty expressing themselves when they feel angry. In this study we explored the relationship between silencing the self and physical, verbal, and indirect aggression. Our sample consisted of 88 teenage girls from two high schools, with a mean age of 16. They were given Silencing the Self, Self-Esteem, Hostility Towards Girls, and Direct and Indirect Aggression scales. We hypothesize that when girls are higher in silencing the self, will express less verbal and physical aggression and more indirect aggression. We found that silencing the self was positively related to indirect aggression but not to verbal and physical aggression. We also found that a subscale of Silencing the Self, Divided Self, was positively related to all forms of aggression. We also found that the subscale Care as Self Sacrifice was negatively related to Physical Aggression. Externalized Self Perception was positively related to Indirect Aggression.

We hypothesized that self-esteem would moderate the relationship between silencing the self and aggression. Contrary to what we predicted, the Silencing the Self subscale was positively related to Indirect Aggression when Self-Esteem was high, not when it was low. We also examined the relationship between hostility and aggression. As expected, hostility was significantly positively related to physical, verbal, and indirect aggression. We replicated findings that silencing the self was related to both self-esteem and hostility. The greater the silencing the self, the more girls experience feelings of hostility and have lower self-esteem. Not only do adolescent girls who are more likely to silence themselves have lower self-esteem and higher hostility towards other girls, they also are more likely to engage in indirect aggression. As clinicians it is important for us to engage with teenage girls to give them the support they need to express themselves honestly.

LLU Discipline

Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

School of Science and Technology

First Advisor

Gloria Cowan

Second Advisor

Suzanne Mallery

Third Advisor

David Vermeersch

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Degree Level

Psych.D.

Year Degree Awarded

2011

Date (Title Page)

8-2021

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Teenage girls -- Conduct of life -- Problems, exercises, etc; Violence in adolescence; Aggression -- Adolescent; Adolescent Psychology; Models, Psychological.

Type

Thesis

Page Count

xii; 58

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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