The impact of gender roles on sexist attitudes of adolescents in the school environment

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Sexism and gender-based violence are serious social issues. The objectives of the study are: 1) to analyze the role of gender-based stereotypes in adolescent behavior that promote sexist attitudes and 2) to identify the possible relationships between gender role self-assignment and sexist attitudes. METHOD. A cross-sectional study was designed. A total of 1508 adolescents participated. The mean age distribution was M=14.83. Two instruments were used: The Traditional Masculinity-Femininity Scale and the Gender Role Attitude Scale questionnaire. RESULTS. 1) Adolescents adopt typically male and female roles; with the male and hegemonic self-identification prevailing 2) there is a concentration of more stereotyped male and female roles in early adolescence, 3) there are differences in self-attribution of gender roles according to parental studies, 4) dispersion analysis shows that men are more sexist than women and regression analysis confirms that traditional gender roles increase the risk of sexist attitudes. DISCUSSION. It is concluded that there is an average level of sexism, with male adolescents being more sexist than girls. Masculinity, traditionally understood, is more sexist in its attitudes towards the equality of roles than femininity. The influence of mothers on the development of gender identity is lower than that of fathers; the latter being a predictor of adolescent gender roles. There is a positive correlation between the self attribution of traditional gender roles and sexist attitudes, and these roles increase the risk of these attitudes.