Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Keywords

Gender Development, Stereotypes, Self-Socialization

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The Gender Self-Socialization Model (GSSM; Tobin et al., 2010) is an innovative theory of gender development which delineates gender stereotype beliefs, self perceptions, and gender identity as distinct cognitive constructs, each of which is hypothesized to be dependent on the multiplicative properties of the other two. However, few researchers have tested this prediction, and fewer still have heeded Tobin et al.'s (2010) call to consider the degree to which children's unique values play in this developmental process. The current study addressed this gap in the literature by comparing children's responses on two assessments of stereotyping; one which used a traditional format and one which used a free-response format. Then, gender egalitarianism scores were derived from both stereotyping measures and compared to children's responses on assessments of self-perceptions and gender identity. Participants were 45 girls aged 7-11. Results found that the free-response stereotyping measure prompted participants' to express diverse and complex beliefs about gender, which were not reflected on the traditional scale. Overall, partial support was found for the GSSM's hypotheses that stereotype beliefs, self perceptions, and gender identity would be mutually interactive. The importance of understanding children's idiosyncratic worldviews is discussed.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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