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Children's and adolescents’ evaluations of peers who challenge their group: The role of gender norms and identity
Author(s) -
McGuire Luke,
Palmer Sally B.,
Rutland Adam
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/sode.12546
Subject(s) - psychology , norm (philosophy) , peer group , developmental psychology , gender identity , transgender , social psychology , context (archaeology) , social identity theory , identity (music) , social group , paleontology , political science , psychoanalysis , law , biology , physics , acoustics
In‐group members who challenge group norms (hereon “challenger peers”) often are evaluated less positively by their peers compared to those who adhere to group norms. In the present study children ( n = 118, M age = 10.01) and adolescents ( n = 132, M age = 13.32; total n = 269) were inducted into a gender‐based group who endorsed an activity norm. Participants evaluated a challenger peer who was either cisgender or transgender. Adolescent girls, compared to girls in childhood, individually evaluated a challenger peer more positively while perceiving their group would be less positive than they themselves would be. In contrast, boys in both childhood and adolescence individually evaluated a challenger peer less positively and believed their group also would. These effects were independent of the challenger peer's gender identity, suggesting that in the context of evaluating a challenger to a stereotypical gender norm, adherence to the norm can take primacy over gender identity.