Are men more aggressive than women?

Psychology and Criminology They have been concerned with investigating which psychological variables are related to crime.

In this way we know, among other data, that young people commit crimes more than adults and men more than women. Does this mean that men are more aggressive than women?

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Is aggressiveness higher in men?

Female crime has been a forgotten field of study. Likewise, for quite some time, it has been maintained that women, in committing crimes, adopt a passive role: an accomplice or cover-up.

However, social progress and the advancement of women in society have caused this point of view to be altered, and Today we find that in prisons there is an increasing number of women, although it is true that, despite the increase, nine out of ten inmates are men.

• Related article: "The 11 types of violence (and the different types of aggression)"

Crime and gender differences

We now know that crime is much higher in men than in women, but the crimes of women have not stopped growing. A) Yes,

we know that crimes committed by women are less violent, but that they are more and more frequent and committed by younger women (data concluded by the Fontanesi Report of the Council of Europe).

With all these data, we wonder if it is true that man is more aggressive and, consequently, commits more acts of delinquency, or if the woman has been socialized differently, she has had fewer opportunities to openly commit crimes and is more influenced by gender expectations that have made it more difficult for her to commit criminal acts and if, therefore, by changing this panorama of differences between the sexes, women equate men in aggressiveness and crime.

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Innate or educational differences?

It is not an easy question to solve, but research indicates that it occurs a conjunction of biological and psychosocial aspects that explain why men tend to develop more violent behaviors.

Psychosocial aspects of the difference in aggressiveness

On the one hand, we can observe and it has been found that in childhood, boys more frequently present behavioral and aggressive problems, greater exploratory behavior, and play rougher activities.

However, in cultures where the differences in the way of educating boys and girls are shortened, there are smaller differences in the crime rate by sex. Furthermore, as we have mentioned, in Western countries, the female crime rate has increased.

On the other hand, boys in childhood tend to be associated with larger groups in number of people, which leads to more leadership problems than in girl groups, which tend to be smaller.

In addition, it should not be forgotten that women have been more socialized to value different qualities of social life, such as honesty and prudence, an inhibiting factor in behavior criminal. This perspective indicates the importance of socialization when it comes to developing aggressive behaviors in men and inhibiting them in the case of women.

Biological and genetic factors

From the biological point of view, it is necessary to attend to males have higher levels of testosterone, which precipitates aggressiveness, and lower levels of estrogens, which lead to less aggressiveness. Hormonal influences early in the gestation period, masculinize or feminize the brain, conditioning brain structures, hormone concentration and receptors.

Partly because of this, the intensity of responses to certain stimuli is different in girls than in boys, generally, with boys responding more aggressively on more occasions. This process of masculinization or feminization is activated again during puberty, with men presenting greater receptivity for testosterone, to which, if certain difficulties or stress are added, can have a result of violence.

Therefore, despite the existence of various theories and different aspects to explain this reality, the fact that there is a biological influence that makes man more vulnerable to the development of violence, and a conjunction of psychosocial influences that promote or inhibit its development.