Sexual attitudes and behavior of Guatemalan teenagers: considerations for prevention of adolescent pregnancy

Two studies were conducted to explore the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in Guatemala, and to identify the level of contraception. The first study assessed sexual attitudes and behavior of 850 adolescents. In this group, 89% of the males and 38% of the females said they had experienced coitus. Youngsters of upper-middle and lower-middle socioeconomic status had higher rates of coital activity than did those of the middle class. Only 10% of the sexually active couples were using some type of contraception. Boys indicated greater inclination toward "recreational" sex, while girls tended to be more affectively involved with their lovers. Ninety-six percent of sexually active girls planned to marry their current sexual partner, while 5.5% of the boys planned to do so. The second study assessed the prevalence of pregnancy in minors (17 years or younger) attending the gynecology department at a local general hospital. Over a period of two years, 551 cases were identified. Although rates of pregnancy increased with age, the rate of annual increase was dramatically highest from ages 13 to 14, after which it decreased progressively with age. Based on these results, it is recommended that, at least in the Guatemalan population, sex education be implemented at an early age in order to prevent adolescent pregnancy.     

Why don't girls choose technological studies? Adolescents' stereotypes and attitudes towards studies related to medicine or engineering

Gender differences in choice of studies emerge already in adolescence. Two studies with adolescents are presented, the goal of which is to explore the influence of gender by assessing males and females who choose studies related to Medicine or Engineering. Study 1, correlational (N = 330, mean age 15.9, 56.7% girls), shows that girls who choose technology are more poorly appraised than girls who choose other studies. Study 2 (N = 130; mean age 16.77, 56.2% girls), experimental, measures implicit attitudes (using the IAT) towards males and females from Medicine and Engineering. Implicit attitudes are more favorable towards women if they are studying Medicine and towards men if they study Engineering. The results are analyzed with relation to the percentages of boys and girls in the different fields of study.     

Values for gender roles and relations among high school and non‐high school adolescents in a Maya community in Chiapas,Mexico

In the current study, I describe values for gender roles and cross‐sex relations among adolescents growing up in a southern Mexican Maya community in which high school was introduced in 1999. A total of 80 adolescent girls and boys, half of whom were attending the new high school, provided their opinions on two ethnographically derived vignettes that depicted changes in gender roles and relations occurring in their community. Systematic coding revealed that adolescents not enrolled in high school tended to prioritise ascribed and complementary gender roles and emphasise the importance of family mediation in cross‐sex relations. Adolescents who were enrolled in high school tended to prioritise equivalent and chosen gender roles, and emphasised personal responsibility and personal fulfillment in cross‐sex relations. Perceptions of risks and opportunities differed by gender: girls favourably evaluated the expansion of adult female role options, but saw risks in personal negotiations of cross‐sex relations; boys emphasised the loss of the female homemaker role, but favourably evaluated new opportunities for intimacy in cross‐sex relations.     

Youths’ attributions for power-related gender differences: nature,nurture, or God?

This study examined beliefs about power-related gender traits among 73 early adolescents in middle school (M age=12.5), 84 late adolescents in high school (M age=16.1), and 111 young adults in college (M age=20.9). Males believed that men had more dominant traits than female participants, and females thought that women had more submissive traits than male participants. Older participants perceived more gender differentiation for these traits than younger participants. Youths believed most strongly in social explanations for differences, followed by biological and religious explanations, although there were age and sex differences in responses. Findings suggest that religious and biological attributions decrease between early adolescence and adulthood for both males and females, but that social attributions increase for females only. Religious attributions were linked to traditional attitudes towards women, social attributions were linked to egalitarian attitudes, while biological attributions were linked to traditional attitudes for males only.     

Benevolent Sexism Toward Men and Women: Justification of the Traditional System and Conventional Gender Roles in Spain

The present study aimed to explore sexist attitudes in young people and to investigate the role of these ideologies in the contribution of boys and girls to housework. For this purpose, 139 Spanish high school students (67 females and 72 males) responded to the ASI and AMI scales (Glick and Fiske in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70:491–512, 1996, Psychology of Women Quarterly 23:519–536, 1999) and assessed their contribution to housework in tasks considered traditionally done by women (highly gender-typed) or more neutral tasks (sex-neutral). Results showed that girls contributed significantly more to housework than boys. In addition, correlation analyses showed that benevolent sexism toward women, men and hostility toward men were significant related to highly gender typed tasks only in the female sample. This result shows the relevance of sexist ideologies in maintaining established differences between genders.     

Personal Control, Self-Efficacy in Sexual Negotiation, and Contraceptive Risk among Adolescents: The Role of Gender

Adolescents’ sexual decision making is shaped by normative ideas about “appropriate” sexual roles for women and men; consequently, the motivation and ability to engage in safer sex may be different for adolescent girls and boys. The aim of this study was to explore how social–psychological resources influence the behavior of girls and boys within the highly gendered and inequitable domain of sexual relationships. I used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine whether personal control and self-efficacy in sexual negotiation are associated with contraceptive risk (engaging in sexual intercourse or not using condoms) among adolescents and whether these associations differ for adolescent boys and girls. Results indicate that personal control and self-efficacy in sexual negotiation are significantly associated with safer sex behavior, and are often more important for girls than for boys in predicting contraceptive risk.     

Attitude towards women of gender schematic vs aschematic individuals

After the fourfold gender typology (1970s), a dual model--gender schematic versus aschematic individuals--emerged in the 1980s. In this research, the relationship between gender schemas and attitudes towards women's rights were tested. Two studies were carried out (2001 and 2009) with adolescents (boys and girls) from 12 to 14 years old, with 359 participants in 2001 and 224 in 2009, using two instruments: the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Attitudes Towards Women Scale. Factor analysis and ANOVAs were carried out. The results of both studies supported the hypothesis that girls maintain more favourable attitudes about themselves than boys do. Both studies supported the hypothesis that feminine and androgynous individuals display similar attitudes towards women, but they differ from the other gender categories. Masculine boys and feminine girls did not show differences in attitudes towards women in comparison to aschematic or cross-gendered adolescents. Inconsistent results were found between studies regarding the hypothesized differences between typical and atypical schematics in attitudes towards women, as well as between undifferentiated and gender schematic individuals. The implications of these results for the instruments used, as well as for theories, are considered.     

Gender and weight concerns in early and middle adolescence: links with well-being and family characteristics

Studied sex and developmental differences in weight concerns in early and middle adolescence and links between concerns and adolescent well-being and family experiences. Participants were mothers, fathers, and older and younger siblings (Ms = 15 and 12.5 years, respectively) from 197, Caucasian, working-middle class, 2-parent families. Parents rated their gender role attitudes and adolescents rated their weight concerns, well-being, gender role orientations, and physical development. Girls reported more concerns than boys; body mass index (BMI) correlated with weight concerns for all youth. Controlling for BMI and pubertal status, weight concerns were linked to older girls' well-being; with physical characteristics controlled, mothers' gender attitudes explained older girls' weight concerns, and siblings' weight concerns explained those of older and younger girls and boys.     

Gender matters, too: the influences of school racial discrimination and racial identity on academic engagement outcomes among African American adolescents

The authors examined relationships among racial identity, school-based racial discrimination experiences, and academic engagement outcomes for adolescent boys and girls in Grades 8 and 11 (n = 204 boys and n = 206 girls). The authors found gender differences in peer and classroom discrimination and in the impact of earlier and later discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. Racial centrality related positively to school performance and school importance attitudes for boys. Also, centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and academic outcomes in ways that differed across gender. For boys, higher racial centrality related to diminished risk for lower school importance attitudes and grades from experiencing classroom discrimination relative to boys lower in centrality, and girls with higher centrality were protected against the negative impact of peer discrimination on school importance and academic self-concept. However, among lower race-central girls, peer discrimination related positively to academic self-concept. Finally, socioeconomic background moderated the relationship of discrimination with academic outcomes differently for girls and boys. The authors discuss the need to consider interactions of individual- and contextual-level factors in better understanding African American youths' academic and social development.     

An Examination of Young Adolescents' Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Sexuality According to Perceived Contraceptive Responsibility1

A total of 442 ninth-grade, black, inner city adolescents participated in a survey of their knowledge of human reproduction, level of self-esteem, and attitudes toward birth control and sexual intercourse. Ninety-two percent of the females and 33% of the males responded that they or they and their partner were responsible for using birth control. The 148 males perceiving contraceptive responsibility as belonging to their partner or no one were most accepting of sexual intercourse and agreed that teenage parenthood is an index of adulthood. Girls were nearly unanimous in their low level of acceptance of sexual intercourse. Annual birth statistics from their high school indicate, however, that a minimum of 13% of these ninth-grade girls will become pregnant in the ensuing academic year. The apparent contradictions of young adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes toward sexuality are discussed in the context of developmental theory.     

The influence of gender labels on the sex typing of imaginary occupations

Social scientists have been concerned not only with gender stratification within the occupational labor force but with young peoples' recognition and aspiration toward same-gender careers. In this paper we investigate how gender labels influence individuals' evaluational sex typing of occupations. Four gender-marked booklets were constructed such that six imaginary occupations within the story were performed by persons labeled as women, men, both men and women, or individuals. College, high-school, and fifth-and third-grade students were asked to evaluate whether a gender-marked occupation was a position for women, men, or both sexes and possible for girls and boys. Students were also asked to indicate which occupations they preferred. Not only were the occupations classified in relation to the gender labels, but occupational gender barriers were perceived. In essence, males were restricted from engaging in female-labeled jobs and females were restricted from engaging in male-labeled jobs. However, career aspirations     

Adolescents' understandings of infidelity

This study explored younger adolescents' (aged 14–17 years; N = 204; 50% girls) understandings of infidelity and whether these understandings differed for girls and boys. Analyses revealed that younger adolescents' understandings of infidelity included an array of physical, affective, cognitive, and verbal behaviors with an extradyadic partner. No gender differences were found. In addition, younger adolescents' understandings of infidelity were compared to older adolescents' (aged 17–21 years; N = 214; 50% girls) understandings. Results showed that younger adolescents' salient understandings of infidelity more often included light, affectionate behaviors such as hugging and kissing an extradyadic partner, whereas older adolescents' salient understandings more often included heavy physical behaviors, including sexual intercourse and oral sex. Gender comparisons with older adolescents revealed that boys' salient understandings of infidelity included higher numbers of heavy physical behaviors, whereas girls' salient understandings included higher numbers of light, affectionate behaviors. Results demonstrate that infidelity is a complex and multifaceted construct for adolescent girls and boys and suggest that developmental researchers should examine understandings of infidelity beyond sexual extradyadic experiences. Implications for adolescent development and psychosocial health are discussed.     

Evidence for a Comprehensive Sexuality Education Intervention that Enhances Chinese Adolescents’ Sexual Knowledge and Gender Awareness and Empowers Young Women

While Chinese adolescents become more sexually active, their sexual attitudes are profoundly influenced by traditional gender and sexual norms. The tensions between the rapid transition in youth sexuality and lags in sex education call for a paradigm shift of sexuality education in China. The present study examined the effectiveness of a school-based empowerment comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) intervention in changing adolescents’ sexual knowledge, gender and sexual attitudes, and sexual self-efficacy. We used data from a quasi-experimental intervention study with self-administered pretest and posttest surveys conducted among 1131 10th grade high school students in Lanzhou, northwest China. Whereas 583 participants in two intervention schools attended 12 45-min CSE sessions focusing on gender, rights, and critical thinking skills across 4–7 months, 548 participants in two comparison schools received no or limited conventional sex education. After controlling for differences in sociodemographics and in the influence of family, peers, and internet use between the two groups, female and male adolescents exhibited significantly more accurate sexual knowledge, stronger endorsement of nontraditional gender roles, and greater rejection of sexual double standards immediately after the intervention. Additionally, young women reported significantly higher sexual self-efficacy following the intervention. The findings suggest that the school-based empowerment CSE intervention is helpful in creating an environment in which both young men and young women benefit in sexual knowledge and gender awareness and young women increase their sexual decision-making skills, thereby lending support to the theory and practice of an empowerment CSE approach.

     

Gender Differences in the Relationship of Drinking Motivations and Outcomes

Questionnaire data were used to test the hypothesis that stated motivations for drinking would be more directly related to drinking outcomes among adolescent girls than among adolescent boys. Evidence in support of this hypothesis was found, and we suggest that this gender difference might be due to different norms and role expectations in regard to drinking by boys and men and girls and women in our society.     

Gender differences in the relationship of drinking motivations and outcomes

Questionnaire data were used to test the hypothesis that stated motivations for drinking would be more directly related to drinking outcomes among adolescent girls than among adolescent boys. Evidence in support of this hypothesis was found, and we suggest that this gender difference might be due to different norms and role expectations in regard to drinking by boys and men and girls and women in our society.     

The relationship of self-esteem, maternal employment, and work-family plans to sex role orientations of late adolescents

Self-esteem, maternal employment, and work-family plans are examined in relation to sex role orientations of late adolescents. Data are analyzed from questionnaires administered to 387 males and females. It was found that future work-family plans were closely tied to sex role orientations of adolescents of both sexes. However, self-esteem, evaluation of the relative difficulty of male-female sex roles, and projected childlessness were salient to sex role attitudes of females but not of males. Positive evaluations of self were related to non-traditional sex role orientations among females. Maternal employment differentially affected male and female children. Sons of women in high-status occupations were reluctant to get involved in a two-career family with children. Mothers' occupational status had little influence on the plans or sex role attitudes of daughters. The results indicate that future research should investigate whether maternal employment in high-status occupations, while providing a wider range of acceptable models for girls, may serve as a negative model for boys.     

Adolescent mental health in Japan and Russia: The role of body image,bullying victimisation and school environment

This study examined associations between self-reported mental health problems, body image, bullying victimisation and school safety in large adolescent samples in Japan and Russia, considering the effects of gender, culture and their interactions. In both Japan and Russia, girls reported a greater number of mental health problems, less bullying victimisation and much higher body dissatisfaction than boys did. Japanese adolescents rated themselves higher on total difficulties, reported less body dissatisfaction and bullying victimisation, and rated their school safety lower than that of Russian youths. Cross-cultural differences in total difficulties and body image were qualified by gender. Body dissatisfaction, bullying victimisation and school safety all independently contributed to adolescent mental health problems. The protective effect of school safety on total difficulties was larger for girls than for boys; the strength of the association between bullying victimisation and adolescent mental health problems differed across genders and cultures. The findings indicate a need for a cross-cultural approach and provide a strong basis for targeted interventions that seek to improve adolescent mental health.     

“Shake It Baby, Shake It”: Media Preferences, Sexual Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescents

In this study exposure to and preferences for three important youth media (TV, music styles/music TV, internet) were examined in relation to adolescents' permissive sexual attitudes and gender stereotypes (i.e., views of men as sex-driven and tough, and of women as sex objects). Multivariate structural analysis of data from a school-based sample of 480 13 to 16-year-old Dutch students revealed that preferences, rather than exposure were associated with attitudes and stereotypes. For both girls and boys, preferences for hip-hop and hard-house music were associated positively with gender stereotypes and preference for classical music was negatively associated with gender stereotypes. Particularly for boys, using internet to find explicit sexual content emerged as a powerful indicator of all attitudes and stereotypes.     

Racial Discrimination and African American Adolescents’ Adjustment: Gender Variation in Family and Community Social Support, Promotive and Protective Factors

The current investigation explores the promotive and protective role of family and community-specific social support on the association between perceived racial discrimination and African American adolescents’ adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, school suspensions, school engagement). One thousand nine-hundred forty-two African American adolescents (ages 12–18, M = 15.12; SD = 1.83; 59 % female) from a large Midwestern city participated in this investigation. Regression analyses revealed that perceived racial discrimination was associated with less positive adjustment outcomes for boys and girls. Additionally, there was partial support for gender variation in the promotive role of social support and adolescent adjustment. In particular, while only maternal support was associated with boys’ adjustment, both maternal and paternal support was associated with girls’ adjustment. Also, there was partial support for gender differentiation in the strength and directionality of protective factors. Though in an unpredicted direction, father support moderated the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and girls’ adjustment. Community supports (religious connection and mentor presence) emerged as protective factors for boys’. Findings highlight the role of gender in understanding potential promotive and protective factors for African American adolescents.