Gender Socialization: Differences between Male and Female Youth in India and Associations with Mental Health

Usha Ram,Lisa Strohschein,Kirti Gaur

doi:10.1155/2014/357145

Usha Ram, Lisa Strohschein + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/357145

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Abstract

This paper describes patterns of gender socialization among youth in India and evaluates how these patterns are associated with their mental health. Data come from the Youth in India: Situation and Needs Study (N=44,769), a subnationally representative survey conducted during 2006–2008. Descriptive results underscored the gendered nature of socialization experiences, showing that male and female youth inhabit different social worlds. Female youth expressed more gender-egalitarian attitudes than male youth but reported greater restrictions to their independence than male youth. Male youth recognized more gender-discriminatory practices within their households than did the female youth. Poisson models revealed that female youth experienced more mental health problems when their households engaged in practices that favoured males over females, even as these same practices were associated with fewer mental health problems among male youth. Family violence and restrictions to independence were associated with mental health problems for both male and female youth. When males and females engaged in behaviours contravening sex-specific gender norms, there were corresponding increases in mental health problems for both sexes. Together, these findings suggest that gender inequality permeates family life in India, with corresponding consequences for the mental well-being of male and female youth.

Highlights

Listed as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the goal of ameliorating gender inequality and empowering women is well recognized as a critical tool for advancing population health, improving life chances, and bringing economic prosperity to low- and middle-income countries
As youth enter adult roles and prepare to parent the generation, there is a pressing need to understand how gender socialization has shaped their experiences and how these experiences are connected to their mental well-being
Findings confirm that fewer female youth in India enjoy the same privileges afforded male youth, providing a comprehensive portrait of their family lives

Summary

Introduction

Listed as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the goal of ameliorating gender inequality and empowering women is well recognized as a critical tool for advancing population health, improving life chances, and bringing economic prosperity to low- and middle-income countries. That is, gendered norms govern what is deemed to be acceptable behaviour for the sexes and become the basis upon which girls and women throughout the world are systematically given fewer resources and opportunities than boys and men When these restrictions are condoned by political and legal systems, women and girls become powerless to protect themselves from harm and are made vulnerable to disease, mental disorder, and death [1]. Moss [2] effectively bridged macro- and microlevel processes by identifying the household as an important site of gendered practices, whereby members favour male children but curb opportunities and resources for female children She suggested that researchers need to integrate these linkages in a way that acknowledges their geographic and historical specificity and accounts for different life stages. These ideas, combined with stress process theory, comprise the theoretical basis of the current study

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