Sex Differences in Exclusion and Aggression on Single-Sex Sports Teams

Sex differences in the use of competitive tactics have been well documented and may reflect evolved predispositions. Recent research, however, suggests these differences may be eliminated in single-sex environments. We addressed this possibility by surveying men and women about their recent experiences as members of college (n = 376) and high school (n = 485) single-sex sports teams. We focused on participants' recollections of being targets of exclusion or overt aggression by their teammates. In both samples, women were significantly more likely than men to recall being excluded (college Odds Ratio [OR] = 2.88; high school OR = 1.67) and receiving overt verbal aggression (ORs = 9.15, 3.30). By contrast, women were significantly less likely than men to recall receiving overt physical aggression (ORs = 0.18, 0.14). Furthermore, as predicted by the male warrior hypothesis, compared with men, women were more likely to be excluded by (ORs = 4.2, 3.36) or to receive aggression from (ORs = 13.69, 3.61) teammates in a competitive context (i.e., game) compared with other contexts. This pattern was significant for aggression in both samples and for exclusion in the high school sample. Collectively, these results indicate that differences in the behavior of men and women persist in single-sex settings where groups must cooperate against opponents. Public Significance Statement Previous studies indicate that men are more likely than women to use overt aggression, whereas women are more likely than men to socially exclude others. It is unclear if these sex differences persist in single-sex settings where the social factors that may typically produce sex differences may be diminished. Thus, we surveyed recent members of high school and college sports teams and found that sex differences in overt aggression and exclusion persist in these single-sex settings.