University Presentation Showcase: Undergraduate Division
The Relationship between Sex, Gender, Self and Aggressive Behavior
Presenter Hometown
Corbin, Kentucky
Major
Psychology with a Concertation in Forensic Psychology
Department
Psychology
Degree
Undergraduate
Mentor
Jonathan S. Gore
Mentor Department
Psychology
Recommended Citation
McFerron, Kahlan I., "The Relationship between Sex, Gender, Self and Aggressive Behavior" (2026). University Presentation Showcase Event. 6.
https://encompass.eku.edu/swps/2026/undergraduate/6
Abstract
How a person’s sex, gender, and self-construal are linked to various forms of aggressive behavior (i.e., physical, verbal, emotional, and relational). Research in the past has explained sex and gender with aggression, but self-construal is a new concept to be explored with aggression in our research. Participants comprised 146 undergraduate psychology students (123 female and 23 male), recruited via SONA, who completed the study in approximately 15 minutes. Results include that Hypotheses 1 and 2 do correlate for gender and aggression, while masculinity is in positive correlation (H1) and femininity is in a negative correlation to aggression (H2). While Hypothesis 3 and Hypothesis 4 were not supported because there was no correlation between physical self-construal and aggression (H3), and no correlation between relational self-construal and aggression (H4). Overall, the findings do suggest that aggression does correlate with gender and sex, but when it comes to self-construal (relational and physical), it does not. Keywords: *aggression, sex/gender, and physical and relational self-construal
Presentation format
Poster
The Relationship between Sex, Gender, Self and Aggressive Behavior
How a person’s sex, gender, and self-construal are linked to various forms of aggressive behavior (i.e., physical, verbal, emotional, and relational). Research in the past has explained sex and gender with aggression, but self-construal is a new concept to be explored with aggression in our research. Participants comprised 146 undergraduate psychology students (123 female and 23 male), recruited via SONA, who completed the study in approximately 15 minutes. Results include that Hypotheses 1 and 2 do correlate for gender and aggression, while masculinity is in positive correlation (H1) and femininity is in a negative correlation to aggression (H2). While Hypothesis 3 and Hypothesis 4 were not supported because there was no correlation between physical self-construal and aggression (H3), and no correlation between relational self-construal and aggression (H4). Overall, the findings do suggest that aggression does correlate with gender and sex, but when it comes to self-construal (relational and physical), it does not. Keywords: *aggression, sex/gender, and physical and relational self-construal
