Mexican-American Adolescents' Gender-Typed Characteristics: The Role of Sibling and Friend Characteristics
Date
2015-07
Authors
Perez-Brena, Norma J.
Wheeler, Lorey A.
Updegraff, Kimberly A.
Schaefer, David R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
This study examined the role of sibling and friend characteristics in Mexican-American youth's gender-typed characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests, and leisure activities) in early versus middle adolescence using a sibling design. Mexican-American 7th graders (M = 12.51 years; SD = .58) and their older siblings (M = 15.48 years; SD = 1.57) from 246 families participated in home interviews and a series of seven nightly phone calls. Results revealed that younger/early adolescent siblings reported more traditional gender role attitudes than their older/middle adolescent siblings and older brothers were more traditional in their attitudes than older sisters. When comparing siblings' gender-typed interests and leisure activities, boys reported more masculine orientations than girls and girls reported more feminine orientations than boys. Older brothers' gender-typed characteristics were associated with the amount of time spent with and gender characteristics of their friendship group, but for younger brothers, sibling characteristics were associated with their gender-typed characteristics. In contrast, both sibling and friendship characteristics were significantly associated with older and younger sisters' gender-typed characteristics. The discussion addressed the different correlates of older and younger sisters' and brothers' gender-typed characteristics.
Description
Keywords
adolescence, friends, gender-typed orientation, Mexican-American, siblings, Family and Consumer Sciences
Citation
Perez-Brena, N. J., Wheeler, L. A., Updegraff, K. A., Schaefer, D. R. (2015). Mexican-American adolescents' gender-typed characteristics: The role of sibling and friend characteristics. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(5), pp. 1255-1268.