Mapping Resistance and Conformity to Masculine Role Norms Throughout Adolescence

• In Event: A Developmental Approach to Adolescent Masculinity: Predictors and Outcomes of Adherence to Masculine Norms

Abstract

In patriarchal societies, where masculine gender norms are strongly enforced, there are costs and benefits to both conforming to norms and resisting them. The costs and benefits of gender norm resistance likely change as individuals progress intro, through, and out of adolescence. The current research explored the developmental trajectories of gender norm resistance (GNR) on a sample of thirty-one young adult males (Mage = 23, White = 74%). Participants were interviewed about gender and their experiences of resistance as they progressed through adolescence and into adulthood to assess their developmental trajectories of different types of GNR (direct and indirect) and its relation to the developmental changes of pressure to conform to gender norms, gender typicality, and critical consciousness. Results revealed that both types of GNR increased over time due to a decrease in pressure and an increase in critical consciousness. We discuss how these narratives of resistance extend our understanding of the roles of pressure to conform to gender norms and critical consciousness in the development of GNR.

Authors

• Matthew G Nielson, New York University Abu Dhabi
  Presenting Author

• Carol Lynn Martin, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leoandra Onnie Rogers, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Lindstrom-Johnson, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cindy Faith Miller, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hannah Michelle Berendzen, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author