HE SAID, SHE SAID: GENDER-OF-INTERVIEWER EFFECTS AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERVIEWERS’ GENDER ATTITUDES IN THE HUNGARIAN ESS ROUND 11

On the malleability of gender attitudes: Evidence from implicit and explicit measures in Tunisia

Gender attitudes toward women's employment are of particular importance because they positively influence gender-equal outcomes in the labor market. Our understanding of the mechanisms that promote egalitarian gender attitudes among immigrants, however, remains limited. By studying first- and second-generation immigrants from multiple origins and living in different countries, this article seeks to explain under what conditions the prevalent cultural attitudes toward gender roles at the origin and destination influence immigrants' gender attitudes. We address three main research questions. First, does the country-of-origin gender ideology influence immigrants' views toward working women? Second, does the country-of-destination gender ideology influence immigrants' view toward working women? Are these relationships moderated by (1) the immigrant generation; (2) the age at arrival in the country of destination; (3) the length of residence at destination? Using data from the European Social Survey, we model immigrants' gender attitudes toward working women using linear cross-classified models to account for clustering into the country of origin and destination. The results highlight the importance of the context of early socialization in shaping immigrants' gender attitudes. First-generation immigrants, and more specifically, adult migrants hold gender attitudes that reflect more strongly the country of origin's gender culture. In contrast, the positive association between gender ideology at destination and immigrants' gender attitudes is stronger among second-generation immigrants and child migrants. We add to the literature on gender ideology formation by analyzing the influence of gender ideology at the origin- and destination-levels on the gender attitudes of immigrants from 96 countries of origin and residing across 32 countries of destination.

Gender differentiation is pervasive, and understanding how and why it develops is important for both theoretical and practical reasons. The work described here is rooted in constructivist accounts of gender differentiation. Past research provides considerable support for constructivist predictions concerning (a) developmental changes in gender attitudes and (b) the relation between gender attitudes and information processing. Little work, however, has addressed the more fundamental question of how children's developing gender attitudes about others are related to developing gender characterizations of self. The focus of the current Monograph is on this other-self relation during middle childhood. A brief review of past theory and empirical work on gender differentiation is provided. It is argued that a major explanation of the limitations and inconsistencies evident in earlier work may be traced to restrictions in the measures available to assess key constructs. A conceptual analysis of the specific limitations of past measures is presented. The Monograph then offers alternative models of the developmental relation between attitudes toward others and characterization of self (the attitudinal and the personal pathway models), and identifies conditions expected to influence the strength of the observed other-self relation. Four studies establish the reliability and validity of a suite of measures that provides comparable methods for assessing attitudes toward others (attitude measures, or AM) and sex typing of self (personal measures, or PM) in three domains: occupations, activities, and traits (or OAT). Parallel forms are provided for adults (the OAT-AM and OAT-PM) and for children of middle-school age, roughly 11-13 years old (the COAT-AM and COAT-PM). A fifth study provides longitudinal data from children tested at four times, beginning at the start of grade 6 (approximately age 11 years) and ending at the close of grade 7 (approximately age 13 years). These data are used to examine the developmental relation between children's sex typing of others and sex typing of the self, and to test the predictions concerning the factors hypothesized to affect the strength of the relation between the two types of sex typing. Overall, the data supported the conceptual distinctions among individuals' (a) gender attitudes toward others, (b) feminine self, and (c) masculine self, and, additionally, revealed some intriguing differences across domains. Interestingly, the data concerning the other-self relation differed by sex of participant. Among girls, analyses of concurrent relations showed that those girls who held fewer stereotypes of masculine activities for others showed greater endorsement of masculine items for self, a finding compatible with both the other-to-self attitudinal pathway model and the self-to-other personal pathway model. The prospective regression analyses, however, showed no effects. That is, preadolescent girls' gender attitudes about others did not predict their later self-endorsements, nor did self-endorsements predict later attitudes. Data from boys showed a strikingly different pattern, one consistent with the self-to-other personal pathway model: There was no evidence of concurrent other-self relations, but prospective analyses indicated that preadolescent boys who endorsed greater numbers of feminine traits as self-descriptive early in grade 6 developed increasingly egalitarian gender attitudes by the end of grade 7. The Monograph closes with discussions of additional implications of the empirical data, of preliminary work on developing parallel measures for younger children, and of the need to design research that illuminates the cognitive-developmental mechanisms underlying age-related changes in sex typing.

Age is one of the most widely used indicators in social research. However, the ways in which age influences the dynamics and outcomes of social interactions have received insufficient attention. The contextual configurations of this influence are particularly under-researched. Analyzing data from the European Social Survey, I exploit the case of a survey interview as a microcosm of social interactions to examine the ways in which age influences respondent–interviewer interactions and shapes people’s articulation of gender attitudes. I disentangle whether interviewer’s age influences respondents’ gender-attitude reports directly or via its interaction with respondent’s age. I develop the concept of normative age distance in gender attitudes—the young–old inter-cohort difference in gender attitudes in a given country–year—to examine how it moderates interviewer-age effects. The results suggest that respondents draw on the normative age distance to associate stereotypical gender attitudes with the interviewer’s age and to make sense of their age distance from the interviewer when reporting their gender attitudes. Respondents are more sensitive to the interviewer’s age when the respondent–interviewer age difference is wider and the normative age distance in gender attitudes is greater. Older respondents are more sensitive to normative age distance in gender attitudes when responding to the interviewer’s age. The results provide new insights into how age configures social interactions, underline the importance of understanding survey interviews as contextually embedded symbolic interactions, and reflect critically on methodological challenges to survey design and data analysis.

Inequitable gender norms are thought to harm lifelong health and well-being. We explore the process of gender attitude change and the role of schooling in shifting or reinforcing gender norms among adolescent girls in Zambia. We used longitudinal data collected from unmarried, vulnerable girls (aged 10-19years) as part of the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program. We conducted random effects multinomial logistic regression to determine whether schooling-related factors were associated with shifts in adolescent girls' gender attitudes across three survey rounds and explored whether these relationships varied by age. Mean gender attitude scores at the aggregate level remained stable over time among rural girls and improved slightly for urban girls. At the individual level, about half the girls had relatively unchanged scores, whereas the other half shifted to higher or lower scores between rounds. Rural and urban girls currently attending school were more likely to have relatively stable equitable attitudes than stable, inequitable attitudes, or attitudes that shifted to inequitable. Educational attainment was not associated with shifts in gender attitudes among rural girls. Urban girls with higher educational attainment were more likely to have relatively stable equitable attitudes than stable, inequitable attitudes, or attitudes that shifted to inequitable or more equitable. Patterns of gender attitude stability and change differed more for urban girls than rural girls and varied by age and schooling-related factors. In general, schooling appears to be an institutional lever that holds promise for shifting gender attitudes toward greater equality. Our study highlights the importance of looking longitudinally at the effects of social context and reinforces calls for targeted, context-specific interventions for this age group.

How much does a voter’s attitude towards female versus male leadership manifest itself at the ballot box and when does information regarding candidate qualifications or the lack thereof matter in this relationship? I conduct an in-depth survey, which includes a vote choice experiment randomizing the sex of the more qualified candidate, a novel gender and leadership Implicit Association Test, and a measure of explicit gender attitudes to explore this question. I find that the propensity to pick a female candidate increases as explicit and implicit attitudes against female leadership decrease, suggesting that traditional explicit measures underestimate the effects of gender attitudes and miss a key dimension of people’s preferences. Gender attitudes in the electoral process remain consequential, but have grown subtler, which is missed when only assessing people’s self-reported explicit attitudes. Fortunately, the effects of voters’ gender attitudes can be attenuated by candidate qualification information; however, it does not rid the effects of gender on vote choice uniformly. People who explicitly state a preference for male leaders do not respond to individuating information, even if the female candidate is clearly more qualified than her male counterpart. However, people who implicitly prefer male leaders, but explicitly state being gender-equitable respond to individuating information and tend to select the more qualified candidate regardless of the candidate’s sex. The study points to the significance of dual process account of reasoning—acknowledging that individuals operate on two levels, System 1 (automatic and implicit) and System 2 (effortful and explicit)—in understanding voting behavior.

Women have historically been overlooked in research on social mobility. In contrast, new research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes and norms as determinants of women’s labour force participation in industrialized countries. This chapter discusses the measurement of gender attitudes and reviews research findings. Studies reveal that gender attitudes are a key transmission mechanism for intergenerational economic mobility beyond wealth and other economic factors. Mothers’ egalitarian views and less-restrictive gender norms promote greater labour force participation for daughters and daughters-in-law. There are few investigations in the Global South, where restrictive gender attitudes and norms are more pervasive and could potentially have greater impact in shaping women’s labour force participation. The chapter concludes with a brief case study of women’s labour force participation in India, where the direct link between gender attitudes and women’s labour market engagement could provide a further explanation for its recent decline.

Despite increasing advocacy for gender equality, gender prejudice and discrimination persist. The origins of these biases develop in early childhood, but it is less clear whether (1) children's gender attitudes predict discrimination and (2) gender attitudes and discrimination vary by ethnicity and US region. We examine these questions with an ethnically (Asian, Black, Latinx and White) and geographically (Northeast, Pacific Northwest, West, Southeast and Hawaii) diverse sample of 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 605) who completed measures of gender attitudes and discrimination in a preregistered study. Children, across groups, demonstrated more positive attitudes towards their gender ingroup. Children who showed more pro‐ingroup attitudes also showed more pro‐ingroup behavioural discrimination. Girls showed stronger ingroup favouritism than boys, but ethnic and regional groups generally did not vary in levels of bias. These findings contribute to our understanding of how gender intergroup biases develop and highlight the generalizability of these processes.

This article analyses attitudes towards the social division of labour and gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work in Portugal. The study was based on a survey of 2375 local public administration employees in the Cávado region and used validated measures of gender attitudes. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed three latent dimensions in relation to gender attitudes: gender attitudes in the work-family interface; gender attitudes in housework and care; perceptions of the evolution of gender equality. In addition, bivariate inferential tests (t-tests and one-way ANOVA) were performed to identify and compare patterns of gender attitudes between women and men according to age, education, geographic area, and parenthood. Results show progress in attitudes towards gender equality, especially among women, suggesting that Portuguese society differs from the traditional gender regime in southern Europe. However, we also identified trends of regression among younger male workers, which may present increased challenges to gender equality policies.

Intersectionality scholars have long identified dynamic configurations of race and gender ideologies. Yet, survey research on racial and gender attitudes tends to treat these components as independent. We apply latent class analysis to a set of racial and gender attitude items from the General Social Survey (1977 to 2018) to identify four configurations of individuals’ simultaneous views on race and gender. Two of these configurations hold unified progressive or regressive racial and gender attitudes. The other two formations have discordant racial and gender attitudes, where progressive views on one aspect combine with regressive views on the other. In the majority of survey years, the most commonly held configuration endorsed gender equality but espoused new racialist views that attributed racial disparities to cultural deficiencies. This perspective has become increasingly common since 1977 and is most prevalent among White women and White men, likely due to racial-group interest. Black women and Black men, in contrast, are more likely to embrace progressive racial and gender attitudes. We argue that White men’s gender egalitarianism may be rooted in self-interest, aimed at acquiring resources through intimate relationships. In contrast, Black men adopt progressive racial and gender attitudes to form a necessary coalition with Black women to challenge racism.

The need to revise scholars’ approach to the measurement of gender attitudes—long dominated by the separate-spheres paradigm—is growing increasingly timely as women’s share of the labor force approaches parity with men’s. Recent years have seen revived interest in marital name change as a gendered practice with the potential to aid in this task; however, scholars have yet to test its effectiveness as one possible indicator of gender attitudes. In this article we present views toward marital name change as a potential window into contemporary gender attitudes and most centrally as an illustration of the types of measures that hold great potential for attitudinal research. Using quantitative analyses from a national survey, we show that views on name change reflect expected sociodemographic cleavages and are more strongly linked to a wide array of other gender-related attitudes than are views regarding gendered separate spheres—even net of sociodemographic factors. We then turn to interlinked qualitative data to illustrate three reasons why name-change measures so effectively capture broader beliefs about gender. We conclude by looking at what attitudes about name change can tell us about future directions for the conceptualization and measurement of gender attitudes.

ObjectiveAdolescence is one of the most neglected developmental phases, yet there are few phases in the life course when gender socialisation is as intense. So far, no framework or theory exists that theoretically conceptualises gender norms, gender attitudes and mental health outcomes. To address this gap, we aim to develop a conceptual framework that illustrates the interplay of key constructs in the gendered pathways of health, using the Delphi technique.MethodsWe carried out a Delphi study enrolling an international panel of 21 experts from different disciplines, with 43% of the respondents completing all three survey rounds. We asked the experts to identify core constructs (first round), suggest operationalisations of the constructs (second round), and to hypothesise about their relationships (third round). Items were included, excluded or adapted according to experts’ feedback. A 70% threshold was used for consensus.ResultsThe panelists consented on the following core constructs: gender norms (social environment), sex assigned at birth, gender attitudes, gender roles, competencies, and gender identity to the mental health of adolescents. They further consented on gender approaches, namely the intersectional, multidimensional and multilevel approach as well as the power relations lens. The operationalisation of the constructs in round two led to the inclusion of variables forming an intersectional lens and four social environment levels: the household, community, political and digital level. In round three, the experts formed 14 hypotheses about the relationships between the core constructs.ConclusionThe derived conceptual framework links the interplay of six key constructs, four gender approaches and four social environment levels to adolescent mental health. Future research should validate and apply the hypothesised relationships between the constructs to disentangle the gendered pathways to (mental) health in adolescence.

Adolescence is one of the most neglected developmental phases, yet there are few phases in the life course when gender socialisation is as intense. So far, no framework or theory exists that theoretically conceptualises gender norms, gender attitudes and mental health outcomes. To address this gap, we aim to develop a conceptual framework that illustrates the interplay of key constructs in the gendered pathways of health, using the Delphi technique. We carried out a Delphi study enrolling an international panel of 21 experts from different disciplines, with 43% of the respondents completing all three survey rounds. We asked the experts to identify core constructs (first round), suggest operationalisations of the constructs (second round), and to hypothesise about their relationships (third round). Items were included, excluded or adapted according to experts' feedback. A 70% threshold was used for consensus. The panelists consented on the following core constructs: gender norms (social environment), sex assigned at birth, gender attitudes, gender roles, competencies, and gender identity to the mental health of adolescents. They further consented on gender approaches, namely the intersectional, multidimensional and multilevel approach as well as the power relations lens. The operationalisation of the constructs in round two led to the inclusion of variables forming an intersectional lens and four social environment levels: the household, community, political and digital level. In round three, the experts formed 14 hypotheses about the relationships between the core constructs. The derived conceptual framework links the interplay of six key constructs, four gender approaches and four social environment levels to adolescent mental health. Future research should validate and apply the hypothesised relationships between the constructs to disentangle the gendered pathways to (mental) health in adolescence.

In this study, the author tests whether one form of big data, tweets about feminism, provides a useful measure of public opinion about gender. Through qualitative and naive Bayes sentiment analysis of more than 100,000 tweets, the author calculates region-, state-, and county-level Twitter sentiment toward feminism and tests how strongly these measures correlate with aggregated gender attitudes from the General Social Survey. Then, the author examines whether Twitter sentiment represents the gender attitudes of diverse populations by predicting the effect of Twitter sentiment on individuals’ gender attitudes across race, gender, and education level. The results indicate that Twitter sentiment toward feminism is highly correlated with gender attitudes, suggesting that Twitter is a useful measure of public opinion about gender. However, Twitter sentiment is not fully representative. The gender attitudes of nonwhites and the less educated are unrelated to Twitter sentiment, indicating limits in the extent to which inferences can be drawn from Twitter data.

Objective This study examined how gender attitudes and women's intra‐household decision‐making power interact to shape fertility intentions in China, focusing on the mechanisms that may mitigate the negative link between egalitarian gender attitudes and fertility intentions. Background China continues to face an extremely low fertility rate despite the relaxation of family planning policies. Progressive gender attitudes among women contrast with persistent traditional household roles, creating a gap between gender ideals and lived realities. Method Using data from the 2017 China General Social Survey, the study analyzed a sample of 669 married women of childbearing age. A four‐step hierarchical linear regression model was used to incorporate control variables, gender attitudes, decision‐making power, and their interaction. Results Egalitarian gender attitudes were significantly associated with lower fertility intentions. However, this negative relationship was weakened when women had greater decision‐making power within the household. The moderating effect was especially pronounced among urban, highly educated, employed women, as well as those who do more housework and those under 42 years old. Conclusion The study highlights that progressive gender attitudes are linked to lower fertility intentions in China. Yet, increased household empowerment can buffer this negative relationship, highlighting the importance of aligning gender ideals with everyday practices. Implications Enhancing women's decision‐making power within households could help bridge the gap between progressive gender ideals and reality, thus boosting fertility intentions. Fertility‐boosting policies should aim to further reduce this gap and promote women's autonomy in family matters.