Publishing Web for Students' Final Papers
Publishing Web for Students' Final Papers |
|
From: David Fellner, Jr.
Email: airplane@cats.ucsc.edu
Course: Psychology 100G: Diversity in Development
College: University of California, Santa Cruz
Instructor: Dr. Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych100G
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 13 Dec 1996
Time: 22:06:52
Remote Name: arbhort.ucsc.edu
This paper is a discussion of two of the possible repercussions of enforcing a traditional male gender role on a child. Beginning with a mention of a group paper, it goes on to explain two studies on the stereotypical male role and its effect on people. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of my fellow discussion group members: Barbara B., Elizabeth H., Deborah I., Edward R., Lorraine V. and Mary Z.
In the last paper, the subject of setting gender boundaries was discussed. The manner in which these boundaries are formed was the major point of discussion. Among the means of setting these boundaries was parental descriptions of their babies and rating scales of the babies (Hildebrandt, Karraker, Vogel, & Lake, 1995; Rogoff, 1995), parental modeling of gender stereotypical behavior (Bandura & Bussy, 1984), clothing and room decor (Reingold & Cook, 1975; Pomerleau, Bloduc, Malcuit, & Cossette, 1990), interaction patterns of play (Carpenter, 1983),and selection of gender-stereotypical toys (Calders, Huston & O'Brien, 1984). An important point, that was mentioned only in passing, was the effects of these gender boundaries. It was the group's contention that the boundaries are both limiting and constraining in today's society. In this paper, the effects of male role limitations will be discussed.
There was a study done in Canada that looked at the correlation between gender roles and alcohol consumption (McCreary & Sadava, 1995). One of the conclusions of this study was that traditional attitudes towards the male role in society and wanting to be more masculine were strongly correlated with problem drinking, frequency of intoxication, and experiencing more harmful consequences from drinking. Also, the researches found that traditional, stereotypical attitudes about the male gender role were the only significant predictor of frequency of intoxication after accounting for all other variables. I think that this points to one of the male gender stereotypes of men being able to drink a lot and handle their liquor.
In another study, it was put forth that one of the problems with the high correlation of psychological well-being and the traditional male gender role was that the measures of well-being were biased towards the male gender role (Sharpe & Heppner, 1991). The authors looked at the relationship between the Personal Attributes Scale (PAS), an older, more standard test with masculinity and femininity scales, and the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS), a newer test devised by O'Neil and his colleagues that has four scales of measurement: (a) Success, Power, and Competition, (b) Restrictive Emotionality, (c) Restrictive Affectionate Behavior Between Men, and (d) Conflicts Between Work and Family Relations. One of the findings of this study was that there is very little overlap between the two scales, and "the PAQ scores provide an incomplete picture of the relationships between male gender role and psychological well-being." Also, the authors believed that the GRCS was better able to point out some of the negative consequences of holding to traditional male gender role.
Sandra Bem (1974) has said that people with a high level of androgyny are better adjusted psychologically than gender-stereotypic individuals. So, we can see that by setting these gender boundaries, by restricting children to one set of "proper" behaviors, that we are limiting their potential and possibly setting them up for harm. Problem drinking and possible poor psychological well-being may be caused by strong attitudes towards the traditional male gender role. Therefore, it is important to give children to chance to develop in as androgynous environment as possible, pressuring them in neither direction, masculine nor feminine.
Bibliography
Calders, Y., Houston, A. & O'Brien, M.(1989). Social interaction and play patterns of parents and toddlers with feminine, masculine and neutral Toys. Child Development, 60, 70-76.
Carpenter, C.J. (1983). Activity structure and play: Implication for socialization. Social and cognitive skills: sex roles and children's play. New York: Academic Press.
Hildebrandt Karraker, K., Vogel, D.A. and Lake, M.A. (1995). Parents' gender-stereotyped perceptions of newborns: the eye of the beholder revisited, Sex Roles 33, 687-701.
McCreary, D. R., & Sadava, S. W. (1995). Men, masculinity, and the outcomes of alcohol use. http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~dmccrear/aps-95.html (Dec. 14, 1996)
Pomerleau, A., Bloduc, D., Malcuit, G., & Cossette, L. (1990). Pink or blue: Environmental gender stereotypes in first two years of life. Sex Roles, 22, 359-367.
Vogel, D.A., Lake, M.A., Evans, S., & Karraker, K.H. Children's and Adults' Sex-Stereotyped Perceptions of Infants. Sex Roles, 24, 605-615.
