Assignment task: The Impact of Gender Roles: How Gender Roles are Influenced from Childhood to Adulthood
Introduction:
From a child's birth and continuing throughout the duration of their lives, gender roles are present in every situation and environment surrounding an individual, even in ways not usually considered. Actions ranging from making a financial decision to the kinds of creative choices a child or adult makes can all have roots in how traditional feminine and masculine gender roles are pushed onto people from childhood by their parents and teachers. Individuals who are seen as non-conforming to these typical gender roles, such as through their physical presentation or their sexuality, are often discouraged from acting in a diverse manner, with young boys especially being pushed to conform to masculine ideals and stay the same in adulthood. Even things like how parenting styles can differ in childhood depending on whether the parent is dealing with a boy or a girl, along with how gender non-conforming the child acts, all have impacts that create gendered behavior that continues even after they've become an adult. Over the years, a vast amount of research has been conducted to further explore how these gender roles that are rooted in parents teaching their children to enter society end up impacting them throughout different stages of their life, along with how they make decisions.
Gender roles in childhood
Gender identity forms between the ages of three to five years old. Parents play a great role in helping children reinforce gendered behaviors through their own modeling. Gender nonconformity is defined as gender expressions that go against what is stereotypically acceptable for ones assigned sex at birth (Spivey et al., 2018). From a young age children are taught what activities are acceptable for their gender through the process of socialization. Children put certain activities into categories by interpreting the information that is given to them through their environment. Girls are taught they are supposed to like cooking, dancing, teaching, caring for children, cleaning, grocery shopping, reading, and talking for a long time on the phone. Boys are taught they are supposed to like playing football, earning a lot of money, playing video games, being president, being a leader at work, being a leader in the family, being a police officer, and fighting in sports. Through this, children develop their gender identity based off activities that adhere to traditional gender roles. (Cerbara et al., 2022)
As a result, children who engage in gender non-conforming behavior in childhood are at risk for negative psychosocial outcomes throughout their whole life. Gender non-conforming children are at higher risk for victimization and depressive symptoms. In addition, children who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) have a higher risk of suicidality in adulthood. Children who are LGB are also more likely to fall prey to parents' efforts to change or discourage their child's behavior. In fact, thirty percent of LGB youth who were gender non-conforming in childhood reported that parents had tried to change or discourage their behavior. (Spivey et al., 2018)
A study was conducted in 2018 by Spivey, Huebner, and Diamond from the University of Utah to study parental discomfort and efforts to change their children's gender non-conforming behavior. The study used a sample population of 236 parent participants pooled from the largest pediatric practice in Salt Lake City, Utah. The study consisted of 151 mothers and 85 fathers, the majority of whom were white and belonged to the LDS church. A survey was sent to all 236 parents to measure parental discomfort and parental efforts to change gender non-conforming behavior. The results of the survey revealed that overall girls engaged in a higher number of gender non-conforming behaviors. In addition, the parents of boys with non-conforming behaviors were significantly more uncomfortable and more likely to try and change their child's behavior. Parents discomfort was overall associated positively with effort to change behavior. Lastly, the study revealed that parents who had less traditional and more egalitarian views were less likely to be uncomfortable with their child's gender non-conforming behavior and less likely to try and change it. (Spivey et al., 2018)
In general, girls are more prosocial than boys, since from birth females are taught that they should support and care for others by being nice and almost motherly. Traditional gender roles reveal the gender inequalities that are embedded within society. Overall, society caters to men and places men in positions of power, often putting women in lower regard. Discrimination against women has occurred throughout history and can be traced all the way to the widespread gender stereotypes that are still very much prevalent today. With this, it can be considered the different individual and environmental factors that strengthen these gender roles. (Cerbara et al., 2022)
A study was conducted in Rome, Italy in 2022 aimed at aged eight- to eleven-year-old children attending their last three years of primary school. The study was conducted using a survey and the children were picked through random selection with one class from each grade being chosen. The survey had a total of 42 questions asking the children questions of who did certain activities better: boys, girls, or both. Other outside factors were taken into account such as screen time, gender stereotypes, and pro sociality. Results revealed that internalization of both male and female gender roles increased when the time spent playing video games increases. In addition, both boys and girls had higher responses to their own stereotype opposed to the opposite genders. Lastly, as prosocial behavior increased among boys so did their adherence to female gender roles (Cerbara et al., 2022).
Gender roles in adolescence
Parental influence plays a vital role in children's and adolescents' development and understanding of gender roles. As children transition to adolescents, they already have a general idea of the traditional social norms associated with their gender, as well as stereotypes and duties resulting from parental influence, peers, socialization, observations, and experiences (Ullrich et al., 2022). When it comes to implementing and understanding gender roles in adolescence, it's important to consider the factors that influence an individual's susceptibility to traditional or nonconforming gender roles and expectations. During the adolescence stage, there are many variables that can influence an individual's susceptibility to gender roles, attitudes, and social norms. Some of these factors include the sex of the individual, parental status, family roles and attitudes towards gender roles and expectations, as well as social and cognitive abilities and expectations. Higher socioeconomic statues are linked with the egalitarian attitudes, while families with a low socioeconomic status are linked to traditional attitudes when it comes to gender attitudes and roles (Ullrich et al., 2022). Research has also shown that during adolescents, individuals tend to question traditional gender roles and societal norms and typically adopt the egalitarian role temporarily as they navigate adolescents (Ullrich et al., 2022). Women typically tend to take on egalitarian attitudes in adolescents, as men tend to adopt egalitarian attitudes as they transition into adulthood; although egalitarian attitudes and roles are more noticeable among young women (Ullrich et al,. 2022). These factors influence how young adults and adolescents perceive traditional gender roles, nonconforming roles, or egalitarian roles regarding gender and an individual's sex. Peer relations, socialization, observations, experiences, romantic relationships, and parental influence are some of the greatest influences when it comes to adolescents understanding and determining their roles in relation to gender attitudes and lifestyles, such as adopting traditional, nonconforming, or egalitarian roles and societal expectations.
Gender roles and financial decisions
While studies show an evident difference between the way male and females navigate finances, it is arguable whether the variation stems from socially determined roles or innate differences. Women take a more conservative role when it comes to finances such as spending, and gambling while men will engage in more riskier activities. Studies show the risk-averse perspective for women may come from the homemaker role, and the concern for losing the home or family (Sekscinska et al., 2023). However, with men taking on more of a provider role, they hold the idea that risky financial choices can provide more beneficial outcomes. The study done to determine how genders go about finances were done in a context in which gender roles are still relevant today. However, based on the results, researchers suggested that if it were done in more gender equality region, there may have been no effect on subsequent risky decision-making (Sekscinska et al., 2023). The observation behind this identifies the effect social roles has on patterns of behavior in society, and the way it shapes their values.
A study conducted in 2023 was aimed at Polish working adults who had at least one kid and a stable romantic relationship. The study consisted of 160 women and 159 men ages 18-21. The study aimed to measure the validity of the stereotype threat. Stereotype threat proposes that activating gender stereotypes can affect decision making. The participants were shown pictures of a person their gender depicting either a homemaker (stereotypical female), professional employee (stereotypical male), or neutrally dressed person standing next to a table. From this, the participants were measured on their propensity to be involved in risky financial investment and gambling. The results revealed that those who were shown the picture of the stereotypical male were more likely to make risky and gambling and investment decisions than both the stereotypical females and the control group. In addition, females in the stereotypical male group were more likely to make risky gambling choices than those in the control group. Lastly, males who were in the stereotypical female group were not less likely to make risky investment decisions (Sekscinska et al., 2023).
Gender roles in adulthood
Much of an individual's adulthood is shaped by experiences and lessons from their childhood. This is prevalent for when life gender experiences form gender roles later in adulthood. A recent study evaluating adult's career goals from the Journal of Adult Development identified the variation between men and women when considering their occupational goals. While all the men had a similar response to continue with work, many of the women held the expectation that they would be putting their careers on hold to have children (Wenhold & Harrison, 2021). Not only do gender roles have personal effects on career prospects, but it can cause unequal expectations in relationships, a lack of balance in the household and gender wage gaps. Women tend to prioritize a more conservative lifestyle while giving precedence to managing the home and family, typically as they have seen many of the women in their life do before them. However, according to Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction, men tend to lead their lifestyle with a social dominant approach. Often, this will put them in the household's leadership role, a masculine career and certain political groups. Although gender roles have begun to shift with newer traditional attitudes, wage gaps and gender-based career segregation still showcase the active cultural traditions taking place today.
The presence of gender roles can even have an impact on the ways that both men and women think and use their own creativity in adulthood regarding actions and thoughts. People who adhere to more masculine gender roles end up experiencing much firmer psychological resilience and feel bolder to perform different behaviors ranging in varying levels of creativity (Li et al, 2024.) Years of being shown different gender roles leads to men, being surrounded by masculine confidence in the media, finding themselves feeling self-assured regarding their own self-assessments of creativity compared to women raised with feminine gender roles promoting meeker mindsets. This even counts for women who end up adhering to more masculine roles if they're raised with more gender roles typically pushed onto men. The first test conducted in the study from the journal of "Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts" found that if they aren't pressured to adhere to stereotypical feminine roles, then adult women exhibit similar levels of psychological resilience and boldness that men surrounded by male gender roles do. Masculine gender roles encourage men to be more adventurous regarding their actions and career paths, leading to more resilience in adulthood and making it easier for them to act more creatively. In the second test conducted in this study, it was even found that masculine individuals felt self-confidence even when they were given negative feedback criticizing their performance in the test. Their self-assessments about their perceived performances and creativity were unimpacted after criticism was given. When these same criticisms were then given to the female college students, there was a negative impact on their self-assessments regarding their own creativity and their potential. Although women are more encouraged through stereotypical gender roles to pursue more creative and artistic choices than men are, the overall prompting of self-confidence that's heavily prioritized in male gender roles for adult men causes them to have more flexibility and certainty regarding their creative potential and actions.
Conclusion
Gender roles have a significant impact from childhood to adulthood, influencing everything from career choices to personal development. Starting at a young age, children learn behaviors and expectations based on their gender, often adopting activities and hobbies that align with traditional roles. As they grow into adolescence, these influences continue through peers and societal norms, shaping their views and behaviors. In adulthood, gender roles can still affect financial decisions, career paths, and personal confidence. The way society views gender roles is changing, and many people are challenging these traditional expectations to pursue more equal opportunities that focus on individual strengths and interests, rather than adhering to outdated stereotypes. To achieve greater equality, it's important to encourage open-mindedness and support diverse expressions of identity and capability, allowing everyone to reach their full potential, regardless of gender. Need Assignment Help?