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Does Felt Gender Compatibility Mediate Influences of Self‐Perceived Gender Nonconformity on Early Adolescents’ Psychosocial Adjustment?
Author(s) -
Me Meenakshi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01601.x
Subject(s) - psychology , nonconformity , friendship , developmental psychology , psychosocial , self concept , self esteem , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , operations management , economics
This study evaluated the hypothesis that self‐perceived gender nonconformity is distressing to children because it undermines a confident sense of gender compatibility. Participants were 357 early adolescents (180 boys, M age = 12.68 years) in England who responded to questionnaires measuring friendship styles (preoccupied, avoidant), gender compatibility (typicality, contentedness), and adjustment (self‐esteem, peer social competence, depression, narcissism). Sex differences in friendship styles indicated that preoccupied and avoidant styles were typical for girls and boys, respectively. Gender‐atypical friendship styles predicted poor adjustment, and their impact on adjustment was partially mediated by felt gender compatibility. Results suggest that perceiving gender‐atypical attributes in the self undermines adjustment partly because it leads children to feel incompatible with their gender collective.