Gender-role identity development during adolescence: Individual, familial, and social contextual predictors of gender intensification

Lindberg, Sara M The University of Wisconsin - Madison 2008 해외박사(DDOD)

Despite frequent allusions to gender intensification in the research literature, only a few studies have examined longitudinal changes in gender-role attributes across adolescence. The set of studies presented here tests some of the fundamental assumptions of the gender intensification hypothesis (Hill & Lynch, 1983) by examining gender-role identity development during early adolescence. Study 1 tested the gender intensification hypothesis directly, by examining whether boys become more masculine and girls become more feminine across the transition to adolescence. Results from longitudinal data collected at ages 11, 13, and 15, indicated that contemporary adolescents' gender-role identity development does not conform to the pattern predicted by the gender intensification hypothesis. Rather, contemporary girls consistently report greater femininity than boys across ages 11-15, while contemporary girls and boys report equal levels of masculinity across ages 11-15. Given these surprising findings, study 2 examined the construct of gender-role identity as it has been operationalized in social science research. Specifically, it examined whether traditional thinking about what constitutes 'masculine' and 'feminine' behavior persists in light of secular trends toward more egalitarian gender roles and more acceptance of gender nonconformity. Results indicated that traditionally masculine attributes are still viewed as more socially desirable for men and boys than for women and girls. Likewise, traditionally feminine attributes are still viewed as more socially desirable for women and girls than for men and boys. Study 3 examined individual differences in gender-role identity development during adolescence and tested factors in children's individual development, family environments, and social contexts that might predict their propensity to adopt traditional or non-traditional gender roles. Results identified several factors that predicted children's gender-role identity development, as well as some factors that were thought to predict gender-role identity development but do not. Together, these studies contribute to our understanding of gender-role development during adolescence and suggest new directions for future research.

Dose Fourth Grade Social Studies’ Textbooks Support Saudi Vision 2030?

Alqhtani, Ebtssam Mohammad H State University of New York at Buffalo ProQuest D 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Textbooks are an important aspect of formal education, and education and gender-related research clearly demonstrates that “within schools, textbooks play a significant role in the gender socialization of children” (Lee & Collins, 2010, p. 121). The goal of the current study is to look at textbooks that are used in Saudi social studies classes and provide a critical discourse analysis of how context and visuals are used to present gender. The present study focuses the representation of gender and Saudi government policy in fourth grade textbooks from the 2019-2020 school year. Questions guiding this study were: 1. What kinds of words choices are present in fourth grade Saudi social studies textbooks? 2. Do they represent or reinforce any prevailing ideology, or stereotype in terms of men and women in order to support the Saudi Vision 2030? 3. How are genders represented in Saudi fourth grade social studies textbooks? The results indicated that the majority of the illustrations and text examples were dominated by men and displayed men characters in dominant roles and women characters in passive, domestic, or subservient roles. This suggests that, while great discursive and policy progress has been made toward gender parity or equity, this has not automatically led to an enhanced position for women as workers, citizens, or family members in the curriculum.The findings indicate the continued need for studies of the gendered nature of knowledge and the role education can play in re-shaping gender identities and gender hierarchies. This study is valuable because, to date, no studies have explored gender representations in the Saudi social studies textbooks. A possible direction for future research is the continued charting of gender representations in Saudi Arabia’s school curriculum as well as in other countries in the region. For example, it would be enlightening to compare findings in the current study with countries that surround Saudi Arabia to identify commonalities and similarities.

Making Gender Matter: Knowledge Ecologies, Contested Research Objects, and the Trajectory of Women's and Gender Studies in American Universities, 1970-2010

Wood, Christine Virginia Northwestern University 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines the trajectory of research programs on women and gender in American universities between 1970 and 2010. The dissertation melds perspectives in the sociology of science with organizational analyses of the development of academic disciplines. The analysis forwards a new understanding of how local conditions in research settings influence the trajectory of interdisciplinary development. Women's and gender studies is an interdisciplinary field that originated in connection with second wave feminism and the accompanying view that previous scholarship had omitted women when drawing conclusions about the population. In its developmental trajectory women's studies underwent a process of intellectual and institutional diversification. Women's studies programs began with uniform intellectual goals: to address the lack of scholarship on women and to analyze problems related to sex stratification. As programs spread, scholars across institutions redefined their research interests, incorporating topics that transcended the study of women, such as masculinities and sexual identity. The diversification of research agendas in gender studies across universities was uneven, a result of shifting resources and relationships within programs and the pliable quality of objects of analysis like "women" and "gender," which are used in increasingly diverse ways. I introduce the concepts of knowledge "ecologies" and "supple objects" to explain the diversification of women's and gender studies programs and departments, arguing that the local conditions within departments bore an intimate relationship with the way scholars defined and use core categories of knowledge over time, and, consequently, with the way departments set priorities around studying women and gender. The finding that programs began with homogenous content and diversified only later in their development is distinct from "new institutional" models that see the departments that form a discipline as becoming more structurally similar over time, as well as models that see departments as bearing the distinct imprints of their founding conditions over time. Data are archival records from women's and gender studies departments and programs, semi-structured interviews with professors, data on employment and career trajectories of scholars with appointments in programs, and content analysis of research output.

Stereotyping and Bias: The Nexus of Gender and Ethnicity

Ghavami, Negin University of California, Los Angeles 2011 해외박사(DDOD)

Despite significant gains in understanding people's beliefs about various gender and ethnic groups in the U.S., several important research gaps remain. First, most stereotype research has focused on the beliefs associated with a single social identity such as ethnicity or gender. Studies have ignored the ways in which ethnic stereotypes may differ for men versus women. For example, how similar are stereotypes of Black men and Black women? This singular focus has led to an incomplete description of contemporary cultural stereotypes. Second, previous research has overwhelmingly emphasized personality traits while neglecting other stereotype components. Recent research suggests, however, that behaviors and physical characteristics may be more central to stereotypes than are personality traits (e.g., Miller et al., 2009). This personality-focused analysis of stereotypes misses the complexity of people's social perceptions and mischaracterizes the ways in which stereotypes may affect bias against social groups. Third, although past research has identified many stereotypic attributes, no studies have examined which attributes can reliably distinguish among ethnic groups, among ethnic men and among ethnic women. To complete this project, I conducted two separate data collections. In the first data collection, a large sample of college student participants provided open-ended descriptions of the cultural stereotypes associated with men and women who are Asian American, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern American and White. In the second data collection, a different sample of college student participants was asked to assess stereotypes associated with three sets of target groups: (1) each of five ethnic groups including Asian American, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern American and White, (2) men from each of the five ethnic groups (e.g., Black men, Middle Eastern men) and (3) women from the five ethnic groups (e.g., Black women, Middle Eastern women). Details about these two data collections are provided in the two articles that follow. Article 1, "An Intersectional Approach to the Study of Gender and Ethnic Stereotype Content," uses results from the first data collection to systematically compare the content of stereotypes associated with men and women who are Asian American, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern American and White. Grounded in Intersectionality theory, Social Dominance theory and the Black Exceptionalism Hypothesis, I tested and found consistent support for three main predictions. First, analyses confirmed the Ethnicity Hypothesis, demonstrating that stereotypes of ethnic groups (gender unspecified) were generally more similar to stereotypes of the men than the women of that ethnic group. Second, results supported the Gender Hypothesis . Gender stereotypes were more similar to those of White men and White women than to those of ethnic minority men and women. Third, consistent with the Intersectionality Hypothesis, I documented that intersecting gender and ethnic stereotypes contained unique elements that were not simply the result of adding gender stereotypes to ethnic stereotypes. Article 2 is titled, "Multidimensionality and Diagnosticity of Ethnic and Gender Stereotypes." It reports findings from both of the data collections, which are presented as two studies. The first study uses the qualitative data to systematically chart the various stereotype domains (e.g., personality, physical appearance, and social status) that might comprise stereotypes of ethnic and gender groups. Drawing on multiple perspectives including evolutionary theories (Social Dominance theory; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), socio-political theories (Black Exceptionalism Hypothesis; Sears, 1988) and social cognitive theories (e.g., Martin & Macrae, 2007), I predicted and found that the stereotypes of ethnic groups, ethnic men and ethnic women reflect many domains other than personality traits. Indeed, stereotypes fell into 17 distinct domains including not only personality but also physical descriptors, social status, occupations and ideology. Additionally, and consistent with social categorization research (e.g., Martin & Macrae, 2007), analysis revealed that certain domains---personality and physical descriptors---figured more prominently in stereotypes than others and appeared differentially accessible to participants. The second study draws on the quantitative data to identify attributes that could reliably distinguish among ethnic groups, among ethnic men and among ethnic women. In more technical terms, analyses determined which attributes were "diagnostic" for particular groups. To analyze the data, I used multidimensional scaling (MDS; Kruskal & Wish, 1978) to depict spatially the clustering of stereotypic attributes associated with each set of target groups. To assess diagnosticity, I used the Simpson's index of diversity (Simpson, 1949) to measure "diversity" in the pattern of responses. As predicted, results showed that visually prominent attributes such as physical descriptors were diagnostic of groups significantly more often than non-visual attributes such as personality traits. Results also demonstrated that both the gender of the target and the gender of the respondent played a role in attribute diagnosticity. These findings are presented and discussed in more detail in Article 2. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Exploring the nature of gender-equitable attitudes among Ghanaian men: A mixed methods study

Frost, Ashley E The Pennsylvania State University 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

Gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa has far-reaching implications; fertility, mortality, sexual behavior, infant health, and domestic violence are all negatively impacted by inequalities between men and women. Gender gaps in education depress economic growth in the region, and scholars and practitioners alike assert that the amelioration of gender inequality in Africa is critical for further development on the continent. Because the preponderance of research on gender in sub-Saharan Africa examines women's perspectives, we do not know the full extent to which African men endorse gender equity, or the best approaches to gaining men's support for greater equality. In the discourse, men are often treated as homogenously problematic and resistant, rather than as a potential source of support for gender equality and gender-focused policies. Through a mixed methods approach, this study utilizes 33 in-depth interviews with gender-equitable Ghanaian men and the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (2003 GDHS), to identify the processes through which some Ghanaian men develop gender-equitable attitudes within this male-dominant context. Using social cognitive theory as a framework to investigate the life course experiences that shape men's gender-equitable attitudes, an exploratory analysis of the 2003 GDHS reveals that men's gender attitudes differ by men's individual, family and environmental characteristics. In-depth interviews with gender-equitable Ghanaian men reveal that natal families, schooling environments, and peer relationships influence the emergence of gender-equitable attitudes. Additionally, men can develop more gender-equitable attitudes in adulthood through experiences that replicate familial, peer, and schooling socialization. As specified by social cognitive theory, men's personality characteristics are also important, as these influence how individuals understand and interact with their environments. Life course experiences work cumulatively to cultivate the emergence of gender-equitable attitudes among Ghanaian men. This study also explores the nature of gender-equitable attitudes among Ghanaian men. Specifically, it identifies how Ghanaian men embody their gender-equitable attitudes, and the social costs and benefits of living out these attitudes. Respondents share a set of core beliefs that guide their gender-equitable perspectives, and a commitment to exhibit these values in their daily lives. Gender-equitable Ghanaian men experience a number of social costs as a result of their gender-equitable perspectives, but respondents agree that the personal benefits of their gender attitudes outweigh these costs. This study provides guidance as to where crucial intervention points exist for shaping greater gender-equitable attitudes among men, and offers a constructive commentary on current gender-related policy and programmatic interventions in the region. Also, these findings expand empirical and theoretical understanding of men and masculinities in sub-Saharan Africa, and contribute to the deconstruction of the pervasive assumption that all African men are barriers to gender equity.

Behavioral assimilation and nested social categories: Exploring gender stereotype priming and stereotype threat

Wade, Martha Leslie The Ohio State University 2007 해외박사(DDOD)

The present research examines the influence of level of social categorization on behavioral assimilation to gender stereotypes. Specifically, this research examines both superordinate gender categories (men, women) and prototypical gender subgroups (businessmen, homemakers) to determine whether the level of categorization differentially affects behavioral assimilation. This research also examines whether stereotype threat or category stereotype priming best explains the influence of gender group primes at the two levels. Study 1 primed participants with superordinate gender categories or prototypical gender subgroups to determine the effect of these primes upon performance on a gender-stereotyped task. Results showed that the performance of male participants was influenced by subgroup primes such that performance was lowered when the participants had been primed to think about "homemakers" as a social category, compared with other gender primes. No priming effects were detected for superordinate gender primes or for female participants. Study 2 examined the relationship between the relevant stereotype and the task by framing the same task either as one on which males or females are stereotypically expected to succeed. Again, male participants were influenced by the gender subgroup primes, with the direction of priming effects on performance depending on which gender stereotype was activated. As in Study 1, no assimilation effects were observed for female participants. Study 3 focused on female performance, replicating the priming conditions from Study 1, while explicitly making primes more self-involving. For female participants, the only demonstration of priming effects occurred in this third study, when the essay primes were made explicitly self-involving by invoking an interaction context. Category stereotype priming, not stereotype threat, better explains the pattern of results observed across these three studies, although stereotype threat cannot be conclusively ruled out. Finally, implications of this research and questions for future research are discussed.

Assessing interventions for reducing gender-based occupational stereotypes: A multi-method study comparing the Implicit Association Test to indirect and explicit measures of stereotypes, and an examination of sex roles and entity versus incremental lay theories of social perception

Matheus, Carolyn C State University of New York at Albany 2010 해외박사(DDOD)

Certain occupations are often stereotyped as feminine (e.g., elementary school teacher) while others are stereotyped as masculine (e.g., engineer) (White, Kruczek, Brown, & White, 1989; White & White, 2006). This study proposed using multiple methods to assess stereotypical judgments about the masculinity and femininity of five occupations: engineer, law enforcement officer, accountant, fashion designer, and elementary school teacher. Implicit, indirect, and explicit assessments were used to measure gender-based stereotypes of occupations to examine similarities or differences between the different methods. Implicit assessments involve measuring automatic evaluations to stimuli, while indirect assessments involve gender-ratings of attributes associated with occupations. Both implicit and indirect measurements leave participants relatively unaware of what is being measured. On the other hand, explicit assessments (e.g., surveys) make the nature of the study known because people are explicitly asked questions pertaining to the variables of interest. The current study constructively replicated and improved upon White and White's (2006) study of implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes by accounting for several limitations of White and White's study. White and White found engineering to be characterized as a masculine occupation, elementary school teacher was characterized as a feminine occupation, and accountant was characterized as a gender neutral occupation, regardless of whether the occupations were measured implicitly or explicitly. Their study was limited by the use of college students as the sample, as well as their limited range of occupations. The current study improved upon White and White's study by using a sample of working adults, and by analyzing two additional occupations: law enforcement officer and fashion designer. Gender-based occupational stereotypes were examined using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), an indirect measure, as well as bi-polar and uni-polar explicit scales. The IAT implicitly measured stereotypes that people may not express on explicit self-report measures. Two interventions for reducing stereotypes were also examined in an experimental design. Participants were either shown a gender counter-stereotypical picture or given instructions to imagine their own image of a "strong woman." The interventions were intended to reduce gender-based stereotypes of occupations by introducing relevant counter-stereotypic information. However, the interventions were not found to be effective. Two factors were examined as moderators of the impact of the interventions on reducing gender-based stereotypes of occupations. First, a person's theory about the fixedness or malleability of traits is thought to affect stereotypical judgments. Participants completed the Implicit Person Theory Measure to assess whether the participants perceived traits as fixed (entity theory) or malleable (incremental theory). Participants' theories of traits were hypothesized to moderate the effects of the interventions. In particular, persons who adopt an entity theory were predicted to be less influenced by counter-stereotypic information (e.g., a counter-stereotypic picture or the use of counter-stereotypic mental imagery) aimed at reducing stereotypes. On the other hand, persons who adopt an incremental theory were predicted to be more influenced by interventions aimed at reducing stereotypes. Lay theory was not found to moderate the impact of interventions on stereotype reduction, possibly a result of the interventions themselves. Second, the current study examined respondents' sex role as a factor that potentially moderates the impact the interventions have on reducing stereotypes. The extent to which people describe themselves in terms of masculine characteristics (e.g., assertive, aggressive, independent) or feminine characteristics (e.g., gentle, compassionate, sensitive to the needs of others) may influence interventions aimed at reducing stereotypes. For example, people adopting a masculine sex role may be more likely to accept stereotypes that certain occupations are better suited for men, while people adopting a feminine sex role may be more likely to accept stereotypes that certain occupations are better suited for women. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974) was used to assess gender role perceptions. Sex role was not found to be a moderator of the impact of interventions aimed at reducing stereotypes. Finally, the different implicit, indirect, and explicit measures were examined and compared to one another. A variance index was created for each of the four scales to generate single scale scores that could be compared to one another and the IAT. Results indicate the implicit and explicit measures may be measuring different constructs and highlight the important of using multiple methods to accurately capture complex information such as gender-based stereotypes about occupations.

Gender and interlocutor effects in French

Biers, Kelly Douglas Indiana University 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Research on the relationship between language and gender has grown significantly over the last few decades, focusing mostly on the question of to what extent, if any, men and women differ in their use of language. Currently, researchers tend to conclude that speaker sex is rarely the primary source of language variation, but that it can be shown to contribute to variation when considered in combination with other social factors, such as age or socioeconomic status. Despite these advances, there remain two considerable limitations to the literature. The first is that it is largely based on studies of English, and the second is that it tends to equate gender with speaker sex, whereas gender is something that is not biological but social. Gender, in fact, is typically considered as something that is performed, so in language and gender studies we ought to be concerned not only with the identity of the speaker, but also with that of the audience, or the interlocutor. This dissertation is thus an exploration of how language is used by men and women when speaking to men, and when speaking to women. It is based on recorded conversations of same- and mixed-sex pairs of native speakers of French (in France). In order to describe the relationship between gender and interlocutor effects, I conduct two studies at different levels of language. The first is a variationist study of vowel epithesis, and the second is a discursive analysis of conversational narratives. I show that in both cases, gender effects are detectable when taking into account both speaker and interlocutor sex. Furthermore, gender works in combination with other linguistic and social factors, thus supporting a dynamic view of the relationship between language and gender. Further studies will explore the complex role that gender plays in language variation.

Gender role conflict and psychosocial concerns across race and school type as influences on adolescent girls' sport participation and withdrawal

Wright, Elizabeth A Michigan State University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

One of the most popular activities for both boys and girls to participate in are sports, with over 44 million youth involved in youth sports (National Council of Youth Sports, 2008). While girls are participating at higher rates than they were before the passage of Title IX in 1972, there still exists a discrepancy between the number of boys and girls who participate in sports. Further, there is an even larger discrepancy when looking at the demographics of the adolescent girls who are participating at the lowest (girls of color and girls from low-income urban areas) and highest (girls who are white and reside in suburban areas) rates. One way of studying these discrepancies in sport participation is examining if gender role conflict or psychosocial concerns have a significant impact on adolescent girls' sport participation. With there being a lack of research that studies the sport experiences of girls of various racial and economic backgrounds, this study filled this void by examining not only girls' gender role conflict and psychosocial concerns, but also their overall levels of sport participation and their views on gender appropriateness of sports. Two hundred and thirty-six girls who attended middle SES suburban ( n = 130) and low SES urban (n = 106) high schools participated in this study. It was found that adolescent girls reported low amounts of gender role conflict and psychosocial concerns. Related, girls also reported that gender role conflict and psychosocial concerns played a small role in any decreased middle school sport participation. Some differences emerged when examining girls' experiences with these two measures across race, with African American girls having significantly more concerns with their image and African American girls from middle SES suburban schools reporting the highest amount of impact of gender role conflict. There were similar mixed findings when examining current sport participation. Girls who were current athletes in high school actually had higher gender role conflict scores than those girls who were non-current sport participants. There were limited differences between current and non-current sport participants' psychosocial concerns, with non-current sport participants reporting significantly higher image concerns. Similar results were found with girls who had played and quit a feminine sport, as they had higher image concerns than girls who had played a quit a masculine sport. When looking at middle school and high school sport participation, white girls from middle SES suburban schools were typically the girls that participated the most in sport. What played an especially significant role was the type of school a girl attended, with African American girls particularly negatively impacted with their high school sport participation if they attended a low SES urban school. While more research is needed to confirm these patterns, what these findings suggest is that there is a significant decrease in sport participation between middle school and high school, but only for girls that attend low SES urban schools. Noting the small amount of impact that psychosocial concerns and gender role conflict had with girls in this study, it can be tentatively concluded that there are other reasons that impact adolescent girls' decreasing or quitting their sport participation.

Mother gender socialization: A longitudinal, mixed-method analysis in India

Gupta, Taveeshi Prasad New York University 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

Gender socialization is defined as the process through which children, directly and indirectly, learn about the cultural expectations of being a boy or a girl. While there are numerous studies of parental gender socialization during early childhood, there are only a few studies exploring how gender is socialized by parents during middle adolescence. This dissertation examined the way a sample of mothers living in Delhi India, directly and indirectly, socialize gender with their adolescent children (N = 266; Mage = 11.88 years, SD=.51) and the relation between patterns of gender socialization and the psychological well-being and academic performance of the adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that patterns of direct gender socialization by mothers that adhere to gender stereotypes in 7th grade was significantly related to higher levels of reported depression over time for boys and for children from high income families, lower depression over time for children from low income families, and lower Math grades over time (d = 0.18-0.19). In addition, I found that patterns of indirect gender socialization by mothers that adhere to gender stereotypes was related to higher depression over time, lower self-esteem for girls, and lower self-esteem for children from low income families (d = 0.13). Content analysis of semi-structured interviews with mothers revealed that mothers primarily use indirect socialization to teach their children about gender. Specifically, mothers socialize gender indirectly by discouraging emotional expression for boys across social class, supporting emotional expression for girls in high income families, monitoring girls' physical safety across social class, monitoring boys' physical safety in high income families, choosing gender-typical activities for boys across social class, and choosing gender-typical activities for girls in high income families. In terms of content, I found that mothers across social class socialized predominantly adherence to gender norms in their children by valuing lady-like qualities in girls, qualities of independence and responsibility for boys, prepare girls for a traditional life after marriage. Mothers also give their sons and daughters modern messages about gender such as teaching sons in high income families to be emphatic and girls across social class to be professionally independent in addition to being family-oriented. The results of this dissertation provide insight into the form and content of gender socialization in urban India.