Other researchers have analyzed different influential factors that affect children and their perceptions of gender. Hardesty, Wenk and Morgan (1995) analyzed paternal involvement and their gender expectations while Jackson and Bussey (2020) looked more broadly at societies’ influences as a whole. Jackson and Bussey’s study concluded that young boys felt more pressure to avoid certain behaviors whereas young girls felt pressure to conform to certain feminine behaviors. There seemed to be more of a stigma where boys should not act certain ways and girls should act certain ways. McCabe, Fairchild, Grauerholz, Pescosolido, and Tope (2011) took a more detailed approach and looked specifically at children’s books and found it prevalent that gender equality is uneven and directly tied to patterns of social norms during the timeframe. Lastly, Behm-Morawitz and Mastro (2009) studied female character representation in video games and the effects on female self-conception. Results showed that video games with sexualized female main characters, caused female participant’s self-efficacy to be negatively affected. This was not a surprising result; however, it is interesting to think about the portrayal of heroes and heroines, and while having female characters helps representation, it shows that it is how women are represented not just if they are or not. Although each of these researchers focused on different aspects of influence, they all concluded that certain parts of society and culture have impacts on female behavior and self-worth. All of these factors, from paternal involvement, video games, books, and educational institutions influence how children and pre-teens grow up thus influencing the career paths they choose to take.
Explore Themes:
The Perpetuation of a Heteronormative, Male-Dominated Society
Influential Factors on Children and Pre-teens
