Teacher Ratings and Adolescents' Perceived Social Behavior: Role of Gender-Role Orientations

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Sex, Gender

Abstract

The transition from childhood to adolescence involves daily changes in physical and psychosocial development including gender-role orientation (Kilford et al., 2016). As adolescents socially and physically develop, they become more aware and knowledgeable about gender roles and gender norms (Bell & Juvonen, 2020). Traditional gender norm conformity has been found to play a role in students’ perceptions of social behaviors and teachers’ ratings of social behaviors in the classroom (Yu et al., 2020; Heyder et al., 2020). Past studies show that teachers continue to play a role in adolescents’ lives during secondary school (Harter, 2009). In particular, research indicates that teacher ratings of adolescents’ social behaviors may have an influence on students’ self-perceptions (Smith et al., 2019; Audley-Piotrowski et al., 2015), as well as illustrate the importance of the students’ social experiences in the classroom (Pas & Bradshaw, 2014; Poulou, 2016). Despite these findings, few studies explicitly explore the relation between teacher and adolescents’ perceptions of social behaviors, and how these perceptions may be influenced by, or influence adolescents’ gender-role orientations (Bosacki et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2010).
Accordingly, to explore this gap in the literature, this study explored individual differences and relations among teachers’ (N = 104) ratings of Canadian adolescent students’ social behaviors and adolescents’ perceived competencies and gender-role orientations (N = 148; 98 girls; Mage = 13.6 years). Measures included teachers’ ratings of students’ prosocial behaviors, relational, and physical aggression, and adolescents’ perceived competencies including self-control, behavioral conduct, global self-worth, physical appearance, and gender-role orientations.
Results revealed positive correlations between high levels of teacher ratings of prosocial behaviours and high levels of students’ perceived self-control, behavioral conduct, and feminine gender-role orientation. Positive relations were also found between high levels of teacher ratings of physical aggression and high levels of student perceived masculine gender-role orientations. In contrast, high levels of teacher rated relational aggression related to low levels of students perceived behavioral conduct and overall self-worth. Significant gender differences were found for both teacher and adolescents’ ratings. Teachers rated girls higher in prosocial behaviors and boys higher in physical aggression, with younger females receiving higher ratings of prosocial behaviors compared to older females. Compared to boys, girls were also found to perceive themselves higher in behavioral or moral conduct and reported a stronger stereotypical feminine gender-role orientation. In contrast, compared to girls, boys reported higher levels of physical appearance, global self-worth, and stereotypical masculine traits.
The current findings support previous research that suggests students’ self-perceptions and gender-role orientations may be influenced by, and influence teachers’ perceptions of their social behaviors (Williams et al., 2020; Yu et al., 2020). The present study highlights the importance of adolescents’ perceived traditional gender roles in their overall self-perceptions, and how they are viewed by their teachers. Such findings provide evidence that may inform the development of gender-sensitive curriculum to promote the development of a healthy sense of self and prosocial behavior in adolescence.

Authors

• Shanel Quenneville, Brock University
  Presenting Author

• Victoria Talwar, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sandra Bosacki, Brock University
  Non-Presenting Author