Gender differences in adolescents' self-concepts of assertion and affiliation

Abstract

In order to assess gender differences and developmental changes in self-perceptions of affiliation, negative affiliation, and assertiveness in adolescence, 55 American 7th graders (13-year-olds) and 35 American 10th graders (16-year-olds) were interviewed annually for four and three years, respectively. Rating themselves in 11 different roles, girls perceived themselves as more affiliative and less negatively affiliative in many roles than boys did, but gender differences in assertion were not reliable and girls' assertiveness did not decline over time. These results contrast with popular claims regarding girls' “loss of voice” in adolescence. Gender differences were context-specific, and were most pronounced in ratings of “myself as a boy/girl” and “myself with a close same-sex peer.”