Youths’ attributions for power-related gender differences: nature, nurture, or God?

Abstract

This study examined beliefs about power-related gender traits among 73 early adolescents in middle school ( M age=12.5), 84 late adolescents in high school ( M age=16.1), and 111 young adults in college ( M age=20.9). Males believed that men had more dominant traits than female participants, and females thought that women had more submissive traits than male participants. Older participants perceived more gender differentiation for these traits than younger participants. Youths believed most strongly in social explanations for differences, followed by biological and religious explanations, although there were age and sex differences in responses. Findings suggest that religious and biological attributions decrease between early adolescence and adulthood for both males and females, but that social attributions increase for females only. Religious attributions were linked to traditional attitudes towards women, social attributions were linked to egalitarian attitudes, while biological attributions were linked to traditional attitudes for males only.