News
Friday 6 January 2006
Sexuality and aggression: New study highlights differences
Gay men are just as aggressive as straight men but less likely to show that aggression physically, according to new Nottingham Trent University research. The study – the first of its kind – is due to be published in the leading psychology journal Personality and Individual Differences.
The research involved participants answering an online survey that included three psychometric tests. From 150 questions the researchers looked at levels of aggressiveness and the ways in which that aggression is displayed.
The study examined how not all aggressive acts involved physical violence, with many taking the form of ‘indirect aggression’ such as social manipulation – when a person may actively exclude someone from a group, or spread rumours about them.
The researchers also looked at how aggression was mediated by empathy; the ability to understand another person’s emotions and care about how they feel.
Gay and straight men scored almost identically in terms of their aggressiveness. However, gay men were shown to be far less physically aggressive and far more empathetic than straight men.
The researchers suggest that these differences in levels of physical aggression and empathy are most likely to be due to the effects of hormones a foetus is exposed to in the womb. The effects of these hormones have also been linked to the development of an individual’s sexual orientation.
The study was led by psychologists Mark Sergeant, Dr Mark Davies and Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University ’s School of Social Sciences, and Dr Tom Dickins from the University of East London.
Mark Sergeant said: “There’s not one single concept of aggression, but lots of different elements. Whereas gay and straight men do not differ on most types of aggression, it seems that gay men are more likely to understand how someone is feeling and less likely to rely on physical aggression to resolve a dispute.”
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 2650 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 6589 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
