Adolescent Perception of Sex-Roles in 1968 and 1975

Findings from a study of 798 sixthand seventh-grade students in Milwaukee in 1974-75 were compared to those from a study of 470 Baltimore sixthand seventh-grade children in 1968 to see if the new feminist ideology has had an effect on girls' self-esteem and attitudes toward their own sex. Results indicate few differences between the two studies. Girls in 1974-75 still demonstrated lower self-esteem and a less high evaluation of their sexrole than did their male counterparts. Diane E. Bush is a graduate student in the Sociology Department at the University of Minnesota. Roberta G. Simmons is Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, University of Minnesota. Bruce Hutchinson is a graduate student in the Sociology Department, University of Minnesota. Dale A. Blyth is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth Development, Omaha, Nebraska. POQ 41 (1977-78) 459-474 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.78 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 07:21:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 460 DIANE E. BUSH, ET AL. studies that show a higher incidence of mental illness for women than for men (Silverman, 1968; Bamber, 1973; Gove and Tudor, 1973), and research that indicates that women in general have negative self-concepts (Freeman, 1970). It should be noted that most of these studies were conducted prior to the recent resurgence of the feminist movement, although some were published later. The most prevalent explanation of the findings of female self-image problems is inferior social status (Freeman, 1970; Bem and Bem, 1973; Gove and Tudor, 1973). This interpretation suggests that the role that many women and girls see as definitive of their sex, that is, homemaker and mother, is not valued in modern industrial society as much as it was in previous eras (Freidan, 1963; Bardwick, 1971; Gove and Tudor, 1973; Bem and Bem, 1973). Furthermore, even if women do hold jobs outside the home, these are often not commensurate with their level of educational achievement and thus they feel less worthwhile than men with similar backgrounds (Gove and Tudor, 1973; Bem and Bem, 1973). For the adolescent girl beginning to prepare for adult roles, the perceived lack of occupational and educational opportunities is thought to have contributed to (1) a negative view of the female sex-role and (2) an increased propensity to cultivate interpersonal skills instead of occupational aspirations (F. Rosenberg and Simmons, 1975). Since the women's movement has come to national prominence during the 1970s, we might expect a change in attitudes of girls toward their sex-role. Indeed, one of the goals of the women's movement has been to improve females' images of themselves and their role (Freeman, 1970). Mason et al. (1976) have indicated that over the past decade U.S. adult women have developed more egalitarian attitudes toward sex-role obligations. However, whether these changing attitudes toward sex-role obligations affect the female's evaluation of herself as an individual or her positive or negative attitude toward being female remains a question. Particularly interesting as an area for investigation are the attitudes of the early adolescent, who is entering a key stage in sex-role learning. Thus, the research question of interest here is whether the wider acceptance in society of much of the ideology of the women's movement has improved female adolescents' images of themselves and of their own sex in the 1970s. In order to study this question, we propose to compare the attitudes of adolescent girls and boys toward themselves and toward their sex-role in 1968 and in 1975. Current data will be compared to that collected in 1968 by Rosenberg and Simmons (1972). In particular, we will explore the following questions: (1) Do girls in 1975 hold less favorable self-images than do boys as was the case in 1968 (Simmons and F. Rosenberg, 1975). If so, is the difference of the same magnitude as that found in 1968? (2) Do females still perceive their sex-role less favorably than do boys? Three secondary questions which might shed some light on these major This content downloaded from 157.55.39.78 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 07:21:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ADOLESCENT PERCEPTION OF SEX-ROLES 461 issues relate to occupational and educational aspirations and interpersonal orientations. (1) Are girls more oriented toward valuing interpersonal relationships than boys, as they were in the 1968 study (Rosenberg and Simmons, 1972)? (2) Do girls still perceive fewer occupational and educational opportunities than boys? (3) Do girls still aspire to marriage in the same high proportions as in the 1968 research? Unlike the cross-sectional approach of the 1968 study, in the 1975 study all of these questions will be viewed at two points in time, since a cohort of children are followed from sixth into seventh grade. Mechanisms by which sex-role attitudes are transmitted will not be analyzed in this paper; instead, the nature of these attitudes among early adolescents will be investigated. Methods and Measurement