Gender Stereotyping in Adolescents and Their Parents

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Sex, Gender

Abstract

Children show an understanding of gender stereotypes early in life, though most studies have focused on assessing gender stereotypes in cisgender children. Gender diverse children defy the gender stereotypes associated with their sex at birth, prompting the question of whether they endorse gender stereotypes as often. Previous work has investigated gender stereotyping in gender diverse and cisgender children but has found conflicting evidence (Rubin et al, 2020; Olson & Enright, 2020). In the current study, we measured gender stereotypes in much larger samples than previous studies and with an older age group (13 to 17 years old), including transgender adolescents (N= 152; M= 14.5 years) and their parents (N= 155), and cisgender adolescents (N= 174; M= 14.6 years) and their parents (N= 177).

Stereotyping items were adapted from an existing gender stereotyping measure (Liben et al, 2002) that asked whether participants thought boys, girls, or both have various gender stereotyped traits (e.g., cries a lot, is good at math). Parents and teens were each asked to complete the measure, but teens also completed it a second time indicating their perceptions of their parents’ likely responses. We investigated three primary research questions: (1) if transgender and cisgender adolescents or their parents differed from one another, (2) the relationship between and differences in means of adolescents’ and their parents’ endorsement of gender stereotypes, and adolescents’ predictions of their parents’ endorsement of stereotypes, and (3) whether participants in all groups endorsed more masculine or feminine stereotypes.

We observed very low rates of stereotype endorsement in any group with most participants saying both boys and girls should show equal levels of each trait. We found no significant differences in endorsement of gender stereotypes between transgender and cisgender children, p>0.10, transgender and cisgender children’s perceptions of their parents’ gender stereotype endorsement, p>0.20, or in gender stereotype endorsement by parents of transgender vs. cisgender children, p>0.60. Parents showed less gender stereotyping than their children, t(325)=3.73, p<.001, and less gender stereotyping than their children predicted they would show, t(319)=4.52, p<.0001. Children’s own endorsement of stereotypes and their perceptions of their parents’ stereotyping did not significantly differ, p>0.30. However, we did observe some relation between responses within families. The more teens believed their parents would endorse stereotypes, the more their parents did endorse stereotypes, r=0.138, p=0.014. Additionally, adolescents who endorsed more stereotypes than their peers had parents who endorsed more stereotypes r=0.127, p=0.022. Finally, we found that adolescents and their parents were more likely to endorse feminine stereotypes than masculine stereotypes, adolescents: t(324)=2.20, p=0.029; parents: t(330)=2.54, p=0.011, and teens expected their parents to endorse more feminine than masculine stereotypes, t(319) = 2.41, p=0.017.

We found very few differences between transgender and cisgender participants or their parents and a clear reluctance to endorse gender stereotypes; a notable change from the findings in the original paper using this measure two decades ago (Liben et al, 2002). Whether this reflects a true change or something about a sample willing to participate in a long-term study of transgender youth is unknown.

Group Authors

Shira Kahn-Samuelson and Kristina R. Olson

Authors

• Shira Kahn-Samuelson, Princeton University
  Presenting Author

• Kristina R Olson, Princeton University
  Non-Presenting Author