Not always sugar and spice: Expanding theoretical and functional explanations for why females aggress

The current review discusses the recent surge in violence rates among female adolescents across the United States, and reviews multiple risk and protective factors across both individual and family domains that have been linked to youth violence. Further, theoretical and functional explanations are postulated in an attempt to explain why certain risk and protective factors appear to be stronger predictors of female violence than male violence. Implications for both research and practice are offered, including the need for developing gender-specific programs.