Gender Intensification and Gender Generalization Biases in Pre‐adolescents, Adolescents, and Emerging Adults

Abstract

The gender intensification hypothesis claims that the socialization pressures of early adolescence lead to the adoption of traditional sex‐typed roles. We tested this proposal by examining how extensively children (Mage = 9.39 years; N = 69, 31 female), early adolescents (Mage = 12.06 years; N = 70, 36 female), middle adolescents (Mage = 14.81 years; N = 65, 37 female), and emerging adults (Mage = 18.51 years; N = 70, 37 female) made generalizations from vignettes about male and female characters who had stereotypically feminine or masculine qualities and who had stereotypically neutral qualities. Results showed, first, age‐related increases in gender‐based generalization biases (the difference between stereotype‐consistent and stereotype‐neutral generalizations) to mid‐adolescence and an age‐related decrease in generalization biases from mid‐adolescence to adulthood. Second, we found gender intensification in self‐conceptualizations as masculine and feminine: More so than children and emerging adults, middle adolescents adopted stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. Third, age‐related declines in gender stereotypes of occupations and traits were mediated by faith in intuition. Finally, faith in intuition and gender self‐concepts moderated age‐related increases in generalization biases such that the slope of the age‐related increase in biases was steepest for participants who placed the most faith in intuition and whose gender self‐concepts were traditional. Findings are discussed in terms of gender identification, dual‐process theories of judgements, and the interference stereotypes create when adolescents construct problem representations. Statement of contribution What is already known of the adolescent appearance culture Appearance plays an important role in the psychosocial lives of adolescents. Little research has been conducted on cultural differences in the adolescent appearance culture. What this study adds to our understanding of the adolescent appearance culture Americans were more appearance focused than Chinese adolescents; girls were more appearance focused than boys. The appearance focus–country link was mediated by body esteem, activity level, and parental body size. The link between appearance focus and gender was mediated by body consciousness and perceived appearance pressure.

Gender role identity and gender intensification: Agency and communion in adolescents’ spontaneous self-descriptions

“…A great deal of research conducted in Western nations indicates that women and men are socialized to act in accordance with stereotypical gender roles: Females are encouraged to be nurturing and socially connected, whereas males are encouraged to be independent and autonomous (Helgeson, 1994;Klaczynski et al, 2020;Martinez et al, 2019). In a recent systematic review of gendered parenting in US, Canada, Australia and Western Europe, it has been shown that parents respond differently to daughters and sons (Morawska, 2020).…”

“…Similarly, parents in Western societies prefer gender-typed toys for their children, with stereotypically feminine toys related to nurturance and care and stereotypically masculine toys related to aggression and action (Blakemore & Centers, 2005;Kollmayer et al, 2018a). Thus, the gendered self-concepts and selfdescriptions of women and men may reflect characteristics that have been built through socialization mirroring societal expectations for men and women (Athenstaedt, 2003;Eagly et al, 2000;Klaczynski et al, 2020;Martinez et al, 2019).…”

“…Although it has been shown that children reach peak rigidity in their endorsement of gender-stereotypical beliefs and attitudes in early childhood (by age 5-6) (Blakemore, 2003;Halim & Ruble, 2010), self-concepts seem to become increasingly gendered in adolescence. Studies repeatedly show that, on average, adolescent girls report a more communal self-concept and endorse more communal goals than adolescent boys, whereas boys report a relatively agentic self-concept and pursue more agentic goals than girls (Block et al, 2018;Klaczynski et al, 2020;Ojanen et al, 2005;Skinner et al, 2019). According to gender intensification theory (Hill & Lynch, 1983), girls and boys develop increasingly differentiated gender role identities and behaviours across early adolescence due to increased pressure to conform to stereotypical gender roles.…”

“…According to gender intensification theory (Hill & Lynch, 1983), girls and boys develop increasingly differentiated gender role identities and behaviours across early adolescence due to increased pressure to conform to stereotypical gender roles. Alongside physical changes in adolescence, these conformity pressures may lead adolescents to adopt a more gendered self-concept as part of their identity, while cognitive development and gender-related experiences weaken their stereotypical beliefs and attitudes towards others (Klaczynski et al, 2020). However, studies investigating the intensification of gender role identities in adolescence have yielded heterogeneous results.…”

Evolution of the Habits of Physical Activity and Television Viewing in Spanish Children and Pre-Adolescents between 1997 and 2017

“…For the analysis of the results, the sample of minors was divided into three age groups: G1, 6-8 years (n = 3098), G2, 9-11 years (n = 3749), and G3, 12-14 years (n = 4597). This division responds to the need to divide the sample equitably and that the older children (those who in previous research are usually included as "pre-adolescents") were all in the same group [33,34].…”