Gender Norm Salience Across Middle Schools: Contextual Variations in Associations Between Gender Typicality and Socioemotional Distress

Smith, Danielle Sayre; Schacter, Hannah L.; Enders, Craig K.; Juvonen, Jaana

doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0732-2

Cited by 27 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…There are other devalued social identities possessed by youth, such as gender atypicality, sexual minority status, or obesity, that also elicit discrimination and that have known consequences not unlike those linked to racial discrimination. Being picked on because you are overweight (e.g., Puhl and Latner, 2007;Schvey et al, 2014) or because you deviate from the gender norms in your school (e.g., Jewell and Brown, 2014;Smith et al, 2018) are also related to mental health and physical health challenges. Yet despite some common consequences, studies on discrimination due to race, gender, or weight have evolved as separate literatures, each examining negative consequences of particular stigmatized social identities in isolation.…”

Section: Study 2: How Presence Of Same-race/ethnicity Peers Shapes Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Urban Schools Shapes Intergroup Relations and Well-Being: Unpacking Intersectionality and Multiple Identities Perspectives

2020

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Today’s urban schools provide a unique intergroup context in which the students vary not only by race/ethnicity but also by the relative representation of their racial/ethnic groups. In two studies, we examined how this diversity aligns with intersectionality and multiple identities perspectives to affect the power and status associated with each group to shape intergroup dynamics. Study 1 focused on the perception of intergroup bias to investigate how perceived presence of same-race/ethnicity peers affects middle school students’ intersectional intergroup attitudes based on race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Middle school students (N = 1,107; Mage = 12.10; SD = 0.99) were randomly assigned to view Facebook-like profiles of peers that varied by gender (boy, girl), race/ethnicity (African American, Latinx), and sexual orientation (straight, lesbian, gay) and offered their first impressions as a way to assess various domains of intergroup attitudes. The perceived presence of same-race/ethnicity peers influenced intersectional intergroup attitudes, however, differentially so depending on stereotypes, prejudice, and behavioral tendencies. Study 2 focused on the experience of intergroup bias and simultaneously examined race, gender, and weight discrimination and its consequences among middle school students (N = 4,172; Mage = 13.5; SD = 0.87). Using latent profile analysis, five profiles of youth based on the pattern of perceived discrimination due to gender, race/ethnicity, and weight were identified. Being African American, Latinx, and male with a high body mass index (BMI) and few same-race/ethnicity peers at school predicted membership in a race profile, whereas being White or Asian with high BMI and more same-race/ethnicity peers predicted membership in a weight profile. Perceiving oneself as gender atypical was associated with all discrimination profiles.

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Section: Study 2: How Presence Of Same-race/ethnicity Peers Shapes Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Urban Schools Shapes Intergroup Relations and Well-Being: Unpacking Intersectionality and Multiple Identities Perspectives

2020

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“…Such an approach examining the degree to which a particular individual characteristic (e.g., academic achievement, gender typicality) is associated with social sanctions (positive or negative) within a setting captures norm salience (Cialdini, Kallgren, & Reno, 1991). This method has been applied to study contextual moderator effects across classrooms (Dijkstra & Gest, 2015) and schools (Smith, Schacter, Enders, & Juvonen, 2017). For example, Smith et al (2017) showed that boys who do not perceive themselves as typical of their gender felt more distressed in schools where gender atypicality was more strongly related to perceived peer mistreatment.…”

Section: School-based Weight Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method has been applied to study contextual moderator effects across classrooms (Dijkstra & Gest, 2015) and schools (Smith, Schacter, Enders, & Juvonen, 2017). For example, Smith et al (2017) showed that boys who do not perceive themselves as typical of their gender felt more distressed in schools where gender atypicality was more strongly related to perceived peer mistreatment. These contextual effects were documented over and above boys' individual reports of ridicule and exclusion.…”

Section: School-based Weight Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In sum, we believe that examining the ways in which weight (or other developmentally salient attributes) increase the risk of peer victimization provides us with new insights about which characteristics are targeted by peers-and as such, offers valuable insights about the climate or culture of the school. For example, whereas in some schools students maybe be particularly intolerant of boys who are not gender-typical (Smith et al, 2017), in other schools it might be girls with higher weight that are ridiculed and excluded. Based on the current measurement approach, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of schools' social climates without needing to rely on youth's inferences about why they (or their peers) are victimized.…”

Section: Final Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effects of Middle School Weight Climate on Youth With Higher Body Weight

Juvonen

Lessard

Schacter

et al. 2018

J of Research on Adolesc

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This study examines whether social-emotional difficulties associated with higher body weight vary across schools as a function of the school's weight climate. Weight climate, characterized by weight-policing, was assessed indirectly by examining how strongly self-reported weight predicts victim reputation within 26 ethnically diverse middle schools. Social-emotional indicators included self-reported loneliness, school belonging, and self-esteem. In schools with stronger weight-policing at seventh grade, loneliness was intensified by eighth grade among both girls (n = 2,101) and boys (n = 1,985) with higher weight. Similar effects were found for low self-esteem among girls. Additionally, boys-regardless of their weight-reported lower sense of belonging in schools with stronger weight-policing. The study offers a new method to estimate school weight climate, and the findings provide insights for interventions.

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“…[1,2] For example, schools with more heteronormative norms have been found to be associated with adverse effects on depressed mood for all boys, i.e., regardless of low or high gender typicality. [3] Gower et al [4] found that schools with more supportive LGBT climates had students reporting lower odds of victimization, regardless of their sexual orientation. Poteat et al [5] showed that victimization had a direct effect on suicide behavior and school belonging, and an indirect effect on educational outcomes (reported grades, truancy, and graduation) for all students regardless of sexuality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heteronormativity in Schools is Associated with Unhealthy Weight-Control Behaviors in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth: A Multilevel Analysis.

Franca

Godoy

Menezes

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Previous studies found that a school climate of more heteronormativity is associated with adverse effects on the mental health of LGB students. Accordingly, our aim was to assess the association between low LGB visibility in schools and unhealthy weight-control behaviors among LGB youth. Methods: Cross-sectional, multilevel study based in public high schools in the city of Olinda, Northeast Brazil. A multilevel logistic regression was performed, including 2,500 adolescents enrolled in 27 schools. The contextual variable was the prevalence of LGB youth in each school (as a proxy for heteronormativity in schools) while the outcome was unhealthy weight-control behaviors (fasting, purging, and taking diet pills). We controlled for socioeconomic characteristics (age, gender, receiving a family allowance), obesity, and self-reported happiness. Results: Low LGB visibility in schools was associated with higher odds of engaging in unhealthy weight-control behaviors (OR: 1.5, 95%CI: 1.0, 2.2) among all youth, regardless of sexual orientation. Among LGB youth, there was some suggestion that the association between LGB visibility and unhealthy weight control behaviors was mediated by experiences of victimization and self-perceptions of unhappiness.Conclusion: A school environment of low LGB visibility was associated with unhealthy weight-control behaviors in youth.

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Gender Norm Salience Across Middle Schools: Contextual Variations in Associations Between Gender Typicality and Socioemotional Distress

Cited by 27 publications

References 47 publications

How Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Urban Schools Shapes Intergroup Relations and Well-Being: Unpacking Intersectionality and Multiple Identities Perspectives

How Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Urban Schools Shapes Intergroup Relations and Well-Being: Unpacking Intersectionality and Multiple Identities Perspectives

The Effects of Middle School Weight Climate on Youth With Higher Body Weight

Heteronormativity in Schools is Associated with Unhealthy Weight-Control Behaviors in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth: A Multilevel Analysis.

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