3-148 - How Children’s Favorite Characters Impact Gender Role Attitudes, Perceptions of Gender-Typed Traits, and Personality Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children as young as three have been found to have established brand preferences and loyalties (Kotler et al., 2012; Roberto et al., 2010). Given that the Disney® brand is a multi-billion dollar industry and because children are exposed to this brand from a young age, the research in this symposium will examine how exposure to Disney® media is related to the understanding of gender roles, perceptions of gender-typed traits, and presence of personality traits. Researchers in this symposium studied youth ranging from preschool to emerging adulthood. The first paper describes how exposure to the Disney Princess® brand in preschoolers is associated with various personality characteristics including extraversion/sociability, openness to experience, and achievement motivation. Paper two discusses an experimental study investigating whether exposure to Disney® media clips of princesses influences preschool children’s perceptions of princesses’ gender-typed traits as well as children’s perceptions of their own masculinity and femininity. The third paper examines attributions elementary-aged children make about girls portrayed as sexualized and non-sexualized in photographs and in Disney Channel music videos. The fourth and final paper explores whether exposure to the Disney Princess® brand and preference for a particular type of princess (submissive or assertive) are related to gender role attitudes, romantic beliefs, and body image among young adults. Collectively, these studies provide evidence that children are influenced in various ways by the characters they admire in popular media.

Sub Unit

• Sex, Gender

Chair

• Alisha Renee Walker Marciano, Lynchburg College

Individual Presentations

• Personality and Princesses: Personality Traits Associated with Exposure to Princesses in Preschool Aged Girls - Presenting Author: Alisha Renee Walker Marciano, Lynchburg College; Domenica Kathleen Favero, Lynchburg College; Amanda Mayhew, Lynchburg College; Lyndsay Greene, Lynchburg College; Moran Beidleman, Lynchburg College; Sean Rigney, Lynchburg College

• Can a Princess Be Powerful?: An Experimental Study Manipulating Children’s Perceptions of Princesses and the Self - Presenting Author: Lisa M Dinella, Monnmouth University, NJ; Lauren M Acri, Monnmouth University, NJ; Jordan A Levinson, Monnmouth University, NJ

• The Sexualized Girl: The Development of a Within-Gender Stereotype Among Elementary School Children - Presenting Author: Jennifer Jewell, University of Kentucky; Ellen Audrey Stone, University of Kentucky; Christia Spears Brown, University of Kentucky

• Happily Ever After: How Princess Preference and Exposure Relates to Romantic Beliefs and Gender Role Attitudes in Young Adulthood - Presenting Author: Domenica Kathleen Favero, Lynchburg College; Alisha Renee Walker Marciano, Lynchburg College