Gender ideology construction from adolescence to young adulthood

Abstract

This paper updates and extends research examining the origins of adolescent beliefs about gender. Although previous research noted the importance of maternal attitudes on adolescent beliefs, more recent attempts to model adolescent and young adult gender ideology have been limited in the kinds of intergenerational models tested. Using latent curve modeling and recent survey data from children of a nationally representative sample of women in the United States, I demonstrate that current family context is the most crucial component of adolescent and young adult gender ideology. Egalitarian mothers are more likely to have egalitarian children, although maternal ideologies have little effect on ideology change over time. Young women are more egalitarian than are young men, and this difference diminishes over time. As adolescents age, current life experiences are better predictors of gender ideology than are characteristics of family of origin. There is little evidence that the recent historical trends toward more egalitarian gender ideologies have abated.