| Abstract: | It was hypothesized that adolescents who have steady dates, compared to those who do not, would be perceived by their peers as possessing the following: higher self-esteem, self-perception of higher self-esteem, higher correspondence to their gender's identity, and self-perception of higher correspondence to their gender's identity. A questionnaire was developed and randomly distributed among 480 adolescent boys and girls in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. The research used a 2 (lack or existence of steady date) X 2 (sex of perceived adolescent--boy or girl) X 2 (sex of subjects) X 3 (subjects' grade level--8th, 10th, or 12th grade) factorial design. Analyses of variance results supported the four hypotheses. In addition, the steady-dating factor was found to be significantly more important to male than to female subjects. The research suggests a positive link between steady dating and self-esteem and sex role identity but offers no definitive conclusion on the qualitative aspects of steady dating. |
