Gender Conceptualizations in Female High School Seniors: Relationships with Global Self-Worth and Multiple Measures of Body Image

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine if genderrole conceptualizations in adolescent girls were related to their global self-worth and several dimensions of their body image. Self-report surveys were administered to 335 predominantly Caucasian Grade 12 girls from religiouslybased high schools in the midwestern part of the United States. It was hypothesized that adolescent females' gendertyping of themselves as well as their gender-related attitudes towards others would be significantly, and possibly divergently, related to their perceptions of themselves and their physical bodies. Obtained data were analyzed using multivariate canonical correlation procedures. The results of these analyses revealed support for the predicted overall relationship between gender conceptualizations and self-perceptions, but also indicated some differences in the way in which the two dimensions of gender-role conceptualizations (personal and attitudes towards others) were associated with adolescents' perceptions of themselves. Specifically, girls exhibiting more egalitarian gender-related attitudes towards others scored higher on global self-worth and lower in body appearance orientation. In addition, higher self-endorsement on the masculine subscales was linked with higher global self-worth, lower social physique anxiety, and higher use of competence to evaluate the physical body. In contrast, high self-endorsement on the feminine subscales exhibited mixed links to the set of selfperceptual variables.

Embedding a critical inquiry approach across the AC:HPE to support adolescent girls in participating in traditionally masculinised sport

“…Adolescence is a time of significant growth and development in terms of perceptions, behaviours, attitudes and values (Bowker et al, 2003;Horn et al, 2011;Russell, 2004). The results of this study found that participants were highly influenced by their peers in relation to their participation in TMS.…”

“…Self-esteem, self-efficacy and body image are related strongly to whether females feel they are conforming to their gender roles as based on gender role expectations (Horn, Newton & Evers, 2011).…”

“…While the participants did give examples of where they had overcome barriers, or where things had, from their perspectives, 'gotten better', participants desiring to play or continue to play a TMS still feel the need to conform to gender norms and social expectations. This is particularly heightened as an adolescent girl when gender expectations are already at a high-level (Bowker et al, 2003;Horn et al, 2011;Russell, 2004). The excerpt below is an example of the negative gender associations participants felt that inhibited girls' participation in TMS…”

Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side: Enacting femininity to avoid dying alone

“…Even players who are not heavily invested in the game may come to start associating their own self-worth with ingame stats: she might come to think about herself in terms of "real life stats" related to body image and successful performance of normative gender expectations. Many women across differing ethnicities, cultures and countries already believe that their perceived physical appearance is an indicator of their self-worth (Horn et al 2011). The game is reinforcing pre-existing and culturally instilled genderoriented anxieties for a new generation of Japanese girls -as well as others who might play it.…”

Body Image in Students: Relationship with Eating, Media Influence, and Self-esteem

“…14 Additionally, shape-and weightbased self-esteem is now considered as a central substrate of body image and global self-esteem. 15 The relationship between body image and self-esteem among youth has been well documented in several studies, [16][17][18] and it is present regardless of age and sex. 19 Furthermore, the association between body image and self-esteem is more prominent in comparison with those between self-esteem and other domains of life experience across age groups and countries.…”