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Adolescents' attitudes toward family and gender roles: An international comparison

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Abstract

Adolescents' attitudes toward gender and familial roles were examined using the Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents [N. L. Galambos, A. C. Petersen, M. Richards, & I. B. Gitelson (1985) “The Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA): A Study of Reliability and Validity,” Sex Roles, Vol. 5/6, pp. 343–356] and the Historic-Sociocultural Premises scale [R. Díaz-Guerrero (1975) Psychology of the Mexican: Culture and Personality, Austin: University of Texas Press]. Participants were 265 international students (11 to 17 years of age) from 46 different countries attending schools in the Netherlands. The countries of origin were grouped into two categories of cultural values based on G. Hofstede [(1983) “Dimensions of National Cultures in Fifty Countries and Three Regions,” in J. B. Deregowski, S. Dziursawiec, & R. C. Annis (Eds.), Expiscations in Cross-Cultural Psychology, Lisse Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger]: Wealthier, more individualistic countries comprised Group 1 and less wealthy, more collectivist countries Group 2. Girls responded less traditionally than did boys on both scales. Students from Group 2 countries had more traditional attitudes than did students from Group 1 countries.

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The authors would like to thank Diane Van Etten, Melody Conlon, Shawn Westhoelter, and James Evans for their assistance in this study, and Rogelio Díaz-Guerrero for his helpful comments on a draft of the manuscript. Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by the Beaumont Faculty Development Fund of Saint Louis University. The findings reported here were first presented in preliminary form at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, 1991.

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Gibbons, J.L., Stiles, D.A. & Shkodriani, G.M. Adolescents' attitudes toward family and gender roles: An international comparison. Sex Roles 25, 625–643 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289568

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