Influence of Gender Roles on Perceptions of Teacher/Adolescent Student Sexual Relations

In this study we explored the effects of respondent gender and the specific gender combination (i.e., cross- and same-gender dyads) on perceptions of a sexual encounter between a teacher and an adolescent student. Respondents (120 male and 120 female undergraduates) read a brief scenario and answered questions about their perceptions of the encounter. Significant interactions emerged between teacher gender and student gender. For example, the male teacher/male student dyad was viewed as the least normative, and the female teacher/male student dyad was perceived as the most normative. Significant interactions also were found between teacher gender and respondent gender. Results generally were consistent with gender role stereotypes.