Mean Girls (Toddlers)

The "A Group" dominated the social scene. From the tire swing to the jungle gym, the playground was their domain, and no one was going to mess with them.  The "A Group" is what one group of girls called themselves at a Florida school. Seems normal, right? Every school has their social hierarchy and cliques. But, the problem with this "A Group" is that they probably should have named themselves the "G Group." As in, the "Gerber Baby Group." You see, this particular group of girls was composed of preschoolers - girls who were 4 years old yet had already formed a clique, used peer pressure and manipulation, and dominated and bullied their peers.

This is obviously just one isolated incident, but since one of the first studies of pre-adolescent meanness in 2005, all sources point to American children, especially girls, becoming progressively meaner. The causes for this change could be many. Boys have traditionally been thought of as meaner than girls, yet studies in aggression show that, because boys are able to show aggression in socially-ordained and approved ways, such as sports that encourage rough physical contact, they do not manifest their aggression in social interactions with peers as frequently as girls.

Because girls are not given these outlets for aggression, their aggression may manifest itself in their social interactions, showing the same aggression boys do in other areas through their social manipulativeness and bullying. Other experts, especially evolutionary psychologists, also point out that social aggression may have been evolutionarily viable for females in the past, and thus the trait may be heritable.

Regardless, however, it is clear that social modeling plays a part as well. From movies such as Mean Girls to television shows on Disney, the American media is saturated with female role models who get what they want through bullying and meanness. Obviously, these role models need to change, especially with the recent tragic cases of cyber bullying.  The media and entertainment industry need to realize the ramifications of these portrayals, even one that may be as seemingly innocuous (and annoying) as Hannah Montana, and rethink their own complicit roles in this change in our culture.  If children can learn to be mean this early, then maybe they can learn to be nice as well.