The link between early adolescents' gender discrimination and gender attitudes about peers: Does gender similarity matter?

Abstract

Gender is one of the most salient social identities, particularly during early adolescence. However, factors related to adolescents' gender attitudes remain underexamined. We examined links between adolescents' gender discrimination, felt‐gender similarity, and intergroup gender attitudes. Participants were 270 adolescents in the United States (Mage = 12.95 years, SD = 1.33; 47.4% adolescent girls; 63.7% White, 12.2% Latinx, 10.7% Black, 4.1% Asian, 5.6% multiracial, and 3% indigenous). Path analyses showed that gender discrimination negatively predicted adolescents' attitudes towards own‐ and other‐gender peers. Felt own‐gender similarity positively predicted own‐gender attitudes as expected, but other‐gender similarity did not predict other‐gender attitudes. Further, own‐ and other‐gender similarity did not interact to predict adolescents' gender attitudes. However, adolescents' attitudes towards other‐gender peers were more negatively impacted by gender discrimination for those who felt highly similar to own‐gender peers than for those with average or low own‐gender similarity. Findings inform potential strategies to improve adolescents' gender attitudes.