An experimental study of the correlates and consequences of perceiving oneself to be the target of gender discrimination.
An experimental methodology was used to test hypotheses concerning the effects of contextual, cognitive-developmental, and individual difference factors on children's views of whether they have been the target of gender discrimination and the possible consequent effect of such views on two forms of state self-esteem: performance and social acceptance. Children (N=108, 5-11 years of age) completed theory of mind and gender attitude measures and a drawing task. Next, children received feedback that was designed to appear either gender biased (discrimination condition) or nonbiased (control condition). Children's attributions for the feedback and state self-esteem were assessed. As expected, children reported having been the target of gender discrimination more often in the discrimination condition than in the control condition. Older and more cognitively advanced children made fewer attributions to discrimination than their peers. Perceptions of discrimination were associated with higher performance state self-esteem and, among egalitarian children, lower social state self-esteem.
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. christia.brown@uky.edu
Christia Spears
CS
Brown
Rebecca S
RS
Bigler
Hui
H
Chu
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D012928:Social Desirability; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology