Associations Between Gender Segregation and Gender Identity in College Students

We investigated associations between gender segregation and the two traditions of gender identity identified by Wood and Eagly (2015): gender-typed personality traits and gender reference group identity. We also investigated whether one of these traditions was associated with gender segregation to a greater extent than the other. Our sample consisted of 73 male (and 93 female undergraduate students aged 18–24 attending a university in the northeastern United States of America. In support of our hypotheses we found that male and female college students reported a greater proportion of same-gender than cross-gender friends and that gender segregation was negatively associated with femininity for male college students and positively associated with gender reference group identity for male and female college students. In addition, as hypothesized, we found that gender reference group identity was associated with gender segregation to a greater extent than gender-typed personality traits. That gender segregation is associated with gender reference group identity to a greater extent than gender-typed personality traits supports a multifaceted model of gender, and it highlights the importance of considering different traditions of gender identity in gender research (Mehta 2015; Wood and Eagly 2015).     

about the authors

After tobacco and alcohol, marijuana is the most frequently used and abused substance. Its use is particularly prevalent among young adults, aged 18 to 25. This study examines the role strain plays in chronic (as opposed to recreational) marijuana use. Three theoretical perspectives are included in this analysis: General Strain Theory, Social Learning, and Self Control. Data from the 2001 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse are used to determine the relative effects of peers (social learning), strain (general strain theory), and favorable attitudes toward risk-taking (self control). Data is divided into subsamples on the basis of gender. Logistic Regression analysis suggests that males are more likely to be chronic users, and that psychological strain, social learning, and low self control are significant factors associated with chronic use. Furthermore, strain has a stronger effect on chronic use for minority group members, as does a propensity to risky behavior. Social learning has a stronger effect on nonminority group members. All factors have a stronger significant effect on female chronic marijuana use than on male marijuana use (except for the demographic variable education). Policy implications and suggestions for future research are also included.     

Reducing Social Stress in Urban Adolescents with Peer Network Counseling

Increased social stress in the context of peer interactions is associated with multiple negative health outcomes, including substance use. Addressing social stress could provide protective effects for adolescents who are particularly vulnerable to peer-based issues such as loneliness and perceived isolation. Toward this end, we examined the efficacy of a 20-min substance use intervention named peer network counseling to reduce social stress with 119 urban adolescents. Adolescents presenting at primary care clinics were randomized into treatment or control conditions and followed for 6 months. Utilizing a repeated measures general linear model, we examined the effects of peer network counseling while controlling for race, gender, age, depression symptoms, and substance use (alcohol, marijuana). At 6 months the peer network counseling condition decreased social stress compared to controls (p?<?0.05). A linear mixed-effects moderation model revealed that peer network counseling temporarily moderated the effect of alcohol use, but not for marijuana or heavy alcohol use. Peer network counseling seems to reduce social stress, which suppresses alcohol use among peer network counseling participants in the short term. These promising findings appear to support the efficacy of peer network counseling in reducing social stress, which can moderate alcohol use among urban adolescents.     

Children’s Gender-Typed Activity Choices Across Preschool Social Contexts

Variability in children’s gender-typed activity preferences was examined across several preschool social contexts--solitary play, interactions with female peers, male peers, and both, and interactions with teachers. Participants were preschool children (N?=?264; 49?% girls, M age?=?52?months, range 37–60) attending Head Start classes in the Southwest United States. Seventy-three percent were Mexican/Mexican-American, and 82?% of families earned less than $30,000 per year. Children’s preferences for gender-typed activities varied as a function of their own gender and the identity of their interactional partners. Girls and boys preferred gender-typed activities (e.g., girls preferred feminine activities) when in solitary play but activity preferences changed across social contexts. Specifically, girls played significantly more with masculine activities when with male peers and boys played significantly more with feminine activities during interactions with teachers. Findings suggest that through social interactions with peers and teachers, children are exposed to a greater range of activities than what they experience when they play by themselves.     

Gender Segregation and Gender-Typing in Adolescence

We investigated correlates of gender segregation among adolescent (15–17 yrs) boys (N?=?60) and girls (N?=?85) from the Mid-Atlantic United States. Seventy-two percent of peers nominated for “hanging out” were the same gender as the adolescent. Girls’ gender segregation was correlated with gender reference-group identity and believing girls are more responsive communicative partners than boys. Girls were more likely to endorse feminine, expressive traits, a cooperative activity orientation, and to believe in the greater communicative responsiveness of same- vs. other-gender peers. Boys and girls were equally likely to endorse masculine, instrumental traits, competitive activity orientations, and to identify same-gender others as a reference group. We consider implications of the developmental persistence of gender segregation for gender-typing.     

Gendered Ways to Motivation Gains in Groups

Recent studies have demonstrated motivation gains of low performing group members even beyond the level of an individual work baseline (e.g., Weber and Hertel, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93:973–993, 2007). We expected that the underlying mechanisms of these motivation gains, i.e., social indispensability and social competition, are moderated by individuals’ gender. Moreover, these gender effects were assumed to be moderated by partner anonymity. Predictions were tested with mostly undergraduate German students (N?=?213) working in same-gender groups in a computer-supported environment. Results revealed that motivation gains due to social indispensability were more likely for women, whereas motivation gains due to social competition were more likely for men. Furthermore, women compared to men showed higher motivation gains in anonymous conditions compared to conditions with an acquainted partner.     

A Multivariate Associative Finite Growth Mixture Modeling Approach Examining Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use

Theoretical and empirical substance use development research suggests that adolescent populations are not homogenous and can often be separated into subpopulations characterized by qualitatively different patterns of substance use development. This paper demonstrates the application of a multivariate associative finite latent growth mixture modelling approach to examine heterogeneity in patterns of adolescent alcohol and marijuana use and the influence of age, gender, parent, and peer substance use. Substance use problem outcomes were also examined. Participants were male and female adolescents (N = 1,044) ranging in age from 11 to 17 years at the first assessment (Mean age = 14.47; SD = 1.95). Individuals were 45% female and 82% Caucasian. Using growth mixture methodology, a 7-class model captured distinct simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use patterns over a 3-year period. Findings highlight the importance of examining subgroups of adolescent substance use, rather than focusing only on single samples.     

A qualitative exploration of alcohol use among student sportspeople: A social identity perspective

Research indicates that university student sportspeople are a high‐risk subgroup for hazardous alcohol consumption. Adopting a social identity perspective, we explored the social and psychological processes linking sports participation and alcohol use. Twenty‐two individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted with UK student sportspeople (male: 12; female: 10). A deductive thematic analysis identified three core themes: social identification and sports group membership, identity processes in (alcohol) behaviours and sport context‐specific significance of alcohol. Results suggest that the consumptive practices among student sportspeople were strategic activities underpinned by social identity processes, and which served to provide a positive sports experience at the group level. Our findings highlight the interactions between the sport environment, the social structure of sport participation and the multipurpose function of alcohol in this context. We discuss the implications of these results in support of a social identity approach to sport‐related drinking.     

The protective effects of ethnic identity for alcohol and marijuana use among Black young adults

This study examined the extent to which individual differences in alcohol and marijuana use among 167 Black university students could be accounted for by degree of ethnic identity. After controlling for year in school, sex, and friends' substance use, higher levels of ethnic identity indeed were found to be significantly related to lower beer/hard liquor use, wine use, and marijuana use, accounting for approximately 31%, 6%, and 4% of the variance, respectively. For marijuana use, however, friends' substance use accounted for more of the variance (13%) than did ethnic identity (4%).     

Natural Mentors, Mental Health, and Risk Behaviors: A Longitudinal Analysis of African American Adolescents Transitioning into Adulthood

Patterns of substance use are examined in a sample of over 1,200 youth in a non-metropolitan region of New England. Self-reported history and frequency of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, pain medications, and other hard drug use was assessed for 9th and 10th grade students. Latent class analyses identified four patterns of substance use: non-users (22%), alcohol experimenters (38%), occasional polysubstance users (29%), and frequent polysubstance users (10%). Contextual risk and protective factors in the individual, family, peer, and community domains predicted substance use patterns. Youth report of peer substance use had the largest effects on substance use class membership. Other individual characteristics (e.g., gender, antisocial behavior, academic performance, perceived harm from use), family characteristics (e.g., parental drinking, parental disapproval of youth use), and community characteristics (e.g., availability of substances) demonstrated consistent effects on substance use classes. Implications for prevention are discussed from a social-ecological perspective.     

Internalizing and Externalizing Problem Behavior: a Test of a Latent Variable Interaction Predicting a Two-Part Growth Model of Adolescent Substance Use

Externalizing symptoms robustly predict adolescent substance use (SU); however, findings regarding internalizing symptoms have been mixed, suggesting that there may be important moderators of the relationship between internalizing problems and SU. The present study used a longitudinal community sample (N?=?387, 55% female, 83% White) to test whether externalizing symptoms moderated the relationship between internalizing symptoms and trajectories of alcohol and marijuana use from early (age 11–12 years old) to late (age 18–19 years old) adolescence. Two-part latent growth models were used to distinguish trajectories of probability of use from trajectories of amount of use among users. Results suggested that externalizing symptoms moderated the association between internalizing symptoms and probability of alcohol, but not marijuana use. The highest probability of alcohol use was observed at high levels of externalizing symptoms and low levels of internalizing symptoms. A negative protective effect of internalizing symptoms on probability of alcohol use was strongest in early adolescence for youth high on externalizing symptoms. Although moderation was not supported for amount of use among users, both domains of symptomology were associated with amount of alcohol and marijuana use as first-order effects. High levels of externalizing symptoms and low levels of internalizing symptoms were associated with high levels of amount of use among users. These findings suggest that developmental models of substance use that incorporate internalizing symptomology should consider the context of externalizing problems and distinguish probability and amount of use.     

Gender Role Violations and Identity Misclassification: The Roles of Audience and Actor Variables

When people violate certain social role norms, they risk false categorization into a stigmatized group. For example, heterosexual men who perform female stereotypic behaviors are often misclassified as gay. This identity misclassification is aversive because it threatens fundamental psychological needs. Findings presented here reveal that expectations of identity misclassification fuel heterosexual actors’ (N?=?216) discomfort during imagined gender role violations and that audience variables that increase the likelihood of misclassification also increase role violators’ discomfort. Moreover, expectations of misclassification strongly predict people’s discomfort during gender role violations regardless of their standing along relevant actor dimensions (e.g., attitudes and self-views). These findings suggest that people’s—and particularly heterosexual men’s—expectations of identity misclassification are powerful mechanisms that underlie adherence to traditional gender role norms.     

Linking Childhood Maltreatment to Substance Use in College Students: The Mediating Role of Self-Worth Contingencies

This study investigated the link between childhood maltreatment and substance use, focusing on examining contingencies of self-worth (CSWs) as mediators among college students (N?=?513). Structural equation modeling indicated that childhood sexual abuse among females was related to lower God's love CSW, which in turn was related to higher levels of cigarette, marijuana, and other illicit drug use, supporting the mediational role of God's love CSW. Correlational analyses demonstrated that, for both male and female students, external contingency of appearance was related to higher substance use, whereas internal contingencies of God's love and virtue were related to lower substance use. The findings highlight the protective role of internal CSWs in substance use among females with childhood sexual abuse.     

Self-coded indirect memory associations and

Indirect memory associations for substance use predict both the concurrent and prospective levels of substance use. These methods assess spontaneous, possibly implicit, and easily accessible associations that predict substance use over direct (explicit) methods of assessment (e.g., outcome expectancies). The present study tested and expanded the application of a coding method for alcohol and marijuana associations on the basis of self-coding of indirect responses (Frigon & Krank, 2009). College students generated free associates to (1) ambiguous words (e.g., draft or weed), (2) situations (e.g., at a party, hanging out with friends), and (3) emotions (having fun, feeling dreamy). Later, participants were shown their responses and were asked to code their responses according to both nonrisk and risk activities, such as alcohol and marijuana use. Self-coded scores were higher than researcher-coded scores, captured the same variance, and improved the prediction of substance use. Self-coding of indirect memory associations provides accurate and efficient prediction of the level of alcohol and marijuana. Self-coding is efficient and may be useful for reducing ambiguities in coding of many different kinds of open-ended responses.     

Hope as a Moderator of the Associations Between Common Risk Factors and Frequency of Substance Use Among Latino Adolescents

Ample research suggests that delinquency, depressive symptoms, and peer substance use are common risk factors associated with adolescent substance use. However, the factors that may help to buffer the deleterious effects of these risk factors on adolescent substance use, such as hope, have yet to be examined. The current study evaluated hope as a moderator of the associations between these common risk factors and frequency of substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana) in a sample of Latino high school students (M _age ?=?16.14 years, SD?=?1.30; 55 % female). Findings indicated that the influence of delinquency on frequency of tobacco and marijuana use depended on levels of hope, with delinquency only positively associated with frequency of use when levels of hope were low. Additionally, hope moderated the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol use, such that depressive symptoms were only positively associated with frequency of alcohol use when levels of hope were low. Results and their implications for intervention are reviewed.     

Ethnic Identity and Substance Use Among Mexican-Heritage Preadolescents: Moderator Effects of Gender and Time in the United States

This study examined interactive relationships among ethnic identity, gender, time in the US, and changes in substance use outcomes among a school-based sample of 1,731 Mexican-heritage preadolescents (ages 9-13). Residual change multilevel models adjusting for school clustering and using multiply imputed data assessed changes from beginning to end of fifth grade in use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and inhalants, and four substance use antecedents. Effects of ethnic identity were conditional on time in the US, and in opposite directions by gender. Among males living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted desirable changes in all but one outcome (substance offers). Among females living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted undesirable changes in alcohol use, pro-drug norms, and peer substance use. Interpretations focus on differential exposure to substance use opportunities and the erosion of traditional gender role socialization among Mexican-heritage youth having lived longer in the US.     

“You See It Everywhere. It’s Just Natural.”: Contextualizing the Role of Peers,Family, and Neighborhood in Initial Substance Use

The current study utilizes in-depth interviews with inner city African-American and Latino adolescents to understand how they negotiate initial substance use. We applied the social norms approach to explore the role of peers, family, and neighborhood on adolescents’ initial substance use. Utilizing data from 36 interview participants, our analysis revealed that extended family members were pivotal in providing adolescents with their initial alcohol; however, female adolescents were more likely than male adolescents to acquire marijuana from their male peers, for free. Understanding situational contexts underlying initial substance use is imperative for future interventions with this population.     

Think Leader, Think Male and Female: Sex vs. Seating Arrangement as Leadership Cues

This investigation challenged the long-accepted male-oriented ideology of “think male, think leader” by using social and gender identity theoretical frameworks to examine same-gender biases and the situational leadership cue of the end-of-the-table position. In an experiment consisting of 241 undergraduates enrolled in a large southwestern university in the U.S. (105 men, 135 women, and 1 sex unreported), participants viewed diagrams of male and female figures, in either same-sex or mixed-sex groups, and selected a leader. The end-of-the-table cue held, but the 120 participants (74 women, 46 men) shown mixed-sex groups with a man and a woman shown at both ends of a table chose same-gender leaders significantly more than opposite-gender leaders. Whereas the results suggest that the “think leader, think male” ideology still holds among young men, findings also demonstrated a shift away from this ideology among young women.     

Deconstructing bullying roles: A longitudinal latent profile analysis of bullying participant behaviors for students in grades 4 through 12

Bullying behavior is understood as a complex social phenomenon that includes many, and sometimes overlapping, bullying participant behaviors. The current study utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) at two time points approximately one year apart and examined what bullying participant behavior groups emerged based on students' reported levels of bullying, assisting, victimization, defending, and outsider behavior. Additionally, longitudinal latent profile analyses (LLPA) were utilized to examine potential changes in groups over time. Results suggested four groups found at two timepoints: (a) Uninvolved-Occasional Defending, with defending at a monthly rate and infrequent engagement in other behaviors; (b) Frequent Defending-Occasional Victimization, with monthly victimization and weekly defending behaviors; (c) Frequent Victimization-Occasional Broad Involvement, with weekly levels of victimization and monthly bullying, defending, and outsider behaviors; and (d) Frequent Broad Involvement, with weekly engagement in all of the bully participant behaviors (i.e., bullying, assisting, victimization, defending, and outsider behavior). The largest proportion of students (more than half) were in the Uninvolved-Occasional Defending group, which was also the most stable group over time. The smallest group (7%) was Frequent Broad Involvement, which was the least stable group over time, with students in this group typically moving to groups with at least occasional broad involvement of bullying participant behaviors. More male students than female students were in both broad involvement groups (i.e., Frequent Victimization-Occasional Broad Involvement; Frequent Broad Involvement) and more female students than male students, as well as more elementary students than secondary students, were in the Frequent Defending-Occasional Victimization group. The current study suggests that researchers should use caution when categorizing or conceptualizing simple bullying participant roles such as bully or victim, or even “bully-victim,” especially if the other bullying participant behaviors are not assessed. Practitioners should develop interventions that capitalize on the high proportions of students engaging in some level of defending and account for the complex social ecology that suggests that students are engaging in complex overlapping patterns of bullying participant behaviors.