Rough Physical Play in Adolescents: Does It Serve a Dominance Function?

In Study 1, a questionnaire was designed to investigate secondary school pupils' participation in, and perceptions of, playful and aggressive fighting. It was administered to a sample of 13- to 16-year-old male and female pupils who attended 5 different schools. The majority of pupils (and significantly more males than females) reported that they did engage in playful fighting. Most pupils also indicated that it was possible to tell whether other students were engaged in playful as opposed to aggressive fighting, attesting to the view that playful and aggressive fighting should be seen as separate categories of behavior. Other results converged to indicate that, unlike during the childhood years, playful fighting may be used by some individuals (especially males) to establish and display dominance positions. The responses of some pupils (again more males than females) also suggested that prowess in aggressive fighting was valued, in many cases because it deterred other pupils from directing unwanted behaviors (such as aggression and teasing) at them. In Study 2, more detailed individual interviews with 5 males and 5 females were carried out. These were used to illustrate some of the issues surrounding adolescents' participation in, and perceptions of, playful and aggressive fighting. Overall, the results of both Study 1 and Study 2 supported the hypothesis that some bouts of playful fighting are used during adolescence to settle dominance disputes. Results also suggested that aggression may be introduced into bouts of playful fighting in order to achieve these ends. Theoretical explanations are presented.