The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in children\u27s perceptions of mothers\u27 and fathers\u27 to aggressing girls and boys. A picture test of children aggressing was devised and administered to 52 fourth grade children from upper middle socioeconomic backgrounds attending school in an Idaho community.
Sex of aggressor, type of aggression (verbal or physical), and sex of parent were investigated as factors possibly related to children\u27s perceptions. None of these variables were found to be significant in this sample. However, boys\u27 perceptions of how parents respond to children aggressing were significantly different from girls\u27 perceptions. Girls perceived parents verbally helping or redirecting children and boys perceived parents physically punishing children more often than any other type of response
