Gender Salience and Social Identity: The Impact of Sex of Siblings on Educational and Occupational Aspirations

Abstract

SUMMARY.It is proposed that an understanding of sex differences in educational and occupational aspirations of adolescents would benefit from a perspective which stresses gender identification. The social identification approach (Turner, 1982) hypothesises that these differences are a function of the degree of gender identification, which in turn is a function of the salience of sex. According to McGuire and McGuire's (1981) distinctiveness postulate, gender becomes more salient as the number of opposite sex siblings increases. In order to explore these gender salience effects 81 male and female sixth form pupils completed a questionnaire concerning their self-perceptions, examination peiformance, occupational choice, and comparisons with members ofeach sex. Large sex differences were obtained, showing that educational and occupational ambitions were inhibited among females. Correlational analyses revealed that number of opposite sex siblin s was more closely related to responses than were number of same sex, or total number of siblings. In particular, females' choice of science 0-levels decreased as number of brothers increased. The results are taken to suggest that sex of sibling effects have an intergroup dimension which should be the focus of further research.

Numerical distinctiveness, social identity and gender salience

“…However, when the sex-role ideology of subjects is known, gender salience may be predictive of endorsement of attitudes which support that ideology (both in ad hoc and real long-term settings; cf. Abrams et al, 1985).…”

“…household decreased, spontaneous mention of gender increased. However, Abrams, Sparkes & Hogg (1985) found that the direction and magnitude of effects of different sex ratios in the home did not directly reflect the distinctiveness which those ratios might be presumed to confer. Of particular interest was the finding that females' sex-stereotypical aspirations were related only to their number of brothers, while males' sex-stereotypical aspirations were most related to their number of sisters.…”

“…For example, Cota & Dion (1986) found that varying sex ratios in ad hor experimental groups affected spontaneous mention of gender ('gender salience') differently from self-ascription of gender-related traits ('gender identity'). Abrams (1989;Abrams et a / . , 1985) has pointed out that in addition to a simple descriptive component of gender (e.g.…”

Awareness of a gender stereotype, personal beliefs and self-perceptions regarding math ability: when boys do not surpass girls

“…The recall of school marks was more stereotype-consistent in a condition of high salience than in a condition of low salience of gender stereotypes . Gender stereotypes are known to become more salient whenever gender identity is primed (e.g., Ambady et al 2001;Guimond and Roussel 2001) or made salient in socialization contexts (Abrams et al 1985(Abrams et al , 1990, a fact that accentuates stereotypic self-perceptions (related to being a girl or a boy) (Deaux 1985;Guimond et al 2006;Lorenzi-Cioldi and Doise 1994). Based on this, we hypothesized that salience of gender identity should accentuate the effects of gender stereotypes on girls' and boys' self-perceptions.…”

I. Gender in Low‐ and Middle‐income Countries: Introduction

“…Biological factors may impose restrictions and predispositions on gender in girls and boys, but contextual factors are influential determinants. Context can render gender categories salient or not, increasing or decreasing gender identification, and may or may not lead to one or another set of gendered beliefs and behaviors (Abrams, Sparkes, & Hogg, 1985; Abrams, Wetherell, Cochrane, Hogg, & Turner, 1990). Indeed, the magnitudes of a range of gender differences appear to vary impressively across cultures and nations (Lucas & Gohm, 2000; Williams & Best, 1990).…”