![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated adolescents’ attitudes toward media images of women in non-appearance-focused (CEO and military pilot) and appearance-focused occupations (model and actor). One hundred adolescent girls and 76 adolescent boys provided ratings of likability, competence, and similarity to self after viewing media images of women in non-appearance-focused and appearance-focused occupations. Both boys and girls reported that women in non-appearance-focused occupations were good role models at higher rates than women in appearance-focused occupations. Girls reported greater likability and similarity to the self for women in appearance-focused occupations compared with women in non-appearance-focused occupations, whereas boys showed the opposite pattern. Boys rated women in non-appearance-focused occupations as more competent than women in appearance-focused occupations, whereas girls showed the opposite pattern. The role of internalization of media standards for appearance in teens’ attitudes was also considered. Implications for career identity are discussed.
Keywords objectification, media, work, gender stereotypes, adolescents
References
Section:
|
American Psychological Association . (2007). Report of the APA Task Force on the sexualization of girls. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html Google Scholar | |
|
Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents’ use of media for self-socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24, 519-533. doi:10.1007/BF01537054 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Barthe, E. P., Leone, M. C., Lateano, T. A. (2013). Commercializing success: The impact of popular media on the career decisions and perceptual accuracy of criminal justice students. Teaching in Higher Education, 18, 13-26. doi:10.1080/13562517.2012.694099 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Blumler, J. G., Katz, E. (1974). The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives on gratifications research. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Catalyst . (2014). Percentage women in labor force in Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa, and United States. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-labor-force-australia-canada-israel-south-africa-and-united-states Google Scholar | |
|
Cejka, M. A., Eagly, A. H. (1999). Gender-stereotypic images of occupations correspond to the sex segregation of employment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 413-423. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Collins, R. L. (2011). Content analysis of gender roles in media: Where are we now and where should we go? Sex Roles, 64, 290-298. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9929-5 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Daniels, E. A. (2012). Sexy versus strong: What girls and women think of female athletes. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 33, 79-90. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2011.12.002 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Daniels, E. A., Wartena, H. (2011). Athlete or sex symbol: What boys and men think of media representations of female athletes. Sex Roles, 65, 566-579. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9959-7 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Dasgupta, N., Asgari, S. (2004). Seeing is believing: Exposure to counterstereotypic women leaders and its effect on the malleability of automatic gender stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 642-658. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2004.02.003 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Downs, E., Smith, S. L. (2010). Keeping abreast of hypersexuality: A video game character content analysis. Sex Roles, 62, 721-733. doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9637-1 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Eccles, J. S. (2011). Understanding educational and occupational choices. Journal of Social Issues, 67, 644-648. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01718.x Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. Google Scholar | |
|
Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T.-A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Graff, K. A., Murnen, S. K., Krause, A. K. (2013). Low-cut shirts and high-heeled shoes: Increased sexualization across time in magazine depictions of girls. Sex Roles, 69, 571-582. doi:10.1007/s11199-013-0321-0 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Greenwood, D. N., Dal Cin, S. (2012). Ethnicity and body consciousness: Black and White American women’s negotiation of media ideals and others’ approval. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1, 220-235. doi:10.1037/a0029411 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Gurung, R. A. R., Chrouser, C. J. (2007). Predicting objectification: Do provocative clothing and observer characteristics matter? Sex Roles, 57, 91-99. doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9219-z Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Haboush, A., Warren, C. S., Benuto, L. (2012). Beauty, ethnicity, and age: Does internalization of mainstream media ideals influence attitudes towards older adults? Sex Roles, 66, 668-676. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0102-6 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Harrison, K. (1997). Does interpersonal attraction to thin media personalities promote eating disorders? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, 478-500. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Hartung, P. J., Porfeli, E. J., Vondracek, F. W. (2005). Child vocational development: A review and reconsideration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66, 385-419. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2004.05.006 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Hatton, E., Trautner, M. N. (2011). Equal opportunity objectification? The sexualization of men and women on the cover of Rolling Stone. Sexuality & Culture, 14, 256-278. doi:10.1007/s12119-011-9093-2 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Heflick, N. A., Goldenberg, J. L. (2009). Objectifying Sarah Palin: Evidence that objectification causes women to be perceived as less competent and less fully human. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 598-601. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.02.008 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Hoffner, C. A., Levine, K. J., Sullivan, Q. E., Crowell, D., Pedrick, L., Berndt, P. (2006). TV characters at work: Television’s role in the occupational aspirations of economically disadvantaged youths. Journal of Career Development, 33, 3-18. doi:10.1177/0894845305282768 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Hoyt, C. L., Simon, S. (2011). Female leaders: Injurious or inspiring role models for women? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 143-157. doi:10.1177/0361684310385216 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Karazsia, B. T., van Dulmen, M. H. M., Wong, K., Crowther, J. H. (2013). Thinking meta-theoretically about the role of internalization in the development of body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors. Body Image, 10, 433-441. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.06.005 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390-423. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Latu, I. M., Mast, M. S., Lammers, J., Bombari, D. (2013). Successful female leaders empower women’s behavior in leadership tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 444-448. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.01.003 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Levine, K. J., Hoffner, C. A. (2006). Adolescents’ conceptions of work: What is learned from different sources during anticipatory socialization? Journal of Adolescent Research, 21, 647-669. doi:10.1177/0743558406293963 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Loughnan, S., Haslam, N., Murnane, T., Vaes, J., Reynolds, C., Suitner, C. (2010). Objectification leads to depersonalization: The denial of mind and moral concern to objectified others. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 709-717. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Manago, A. M. (2014). Identity development in a digital age: The case of social networking sites. In McLean, K. C., Syed, M. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of identity development (pp. 508-524). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199936564.013.031 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
McCabe, J., Fairchild, E., Grauerholz, L., Pescosolido, B. A., Tope, D. (2011). Gender in twentieth-century children’s books: Patterns of disparity in titles and central characters. Gender & Society, 25, 197-226. doi:10.1177/0891243211398358 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Meeus, W. (2011). The study of adolescent identity formation 200-2012: A review of longitudinal research. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 75-94. doi:10.1111/j.1532.2010.00716.x Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Miller, C. C. (2014, February 9). LeanIn.org and Getty aim to change women’s portrayal in stock photos. The New York Times. Available from http://www.nytimes.com Google Scholar | |
|
Nauta, M. M., Saucier, A. M., Woodard, L. E. (2001). Interpersonal influences on students’ academic and career decisions: The impact of sexual orientation. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 352-362. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Parks-Stamm, E. J., Heilman, M. E., Hearns, K. A. (2008). Motivated to penalize: Women’s strategic rejection of successful women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 237-247. doi:10.1177/0146167207310027 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Retrieved from http://kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf Google Scholar | |
|
Rudman, L. A., Phelan, J. E. (2010). The effect of priming gender roles on women’s implicit gender beliefs and career aspirations. Social Psychology, 41, 192-202. doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000027 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Smith, S. L., Choueiti, M., Prescott, A., Pieper, K. (2012). Gender roles & occupations: A look at character attributes and job-related aspirations in film and television. Available from http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org Google Scholar | |
|
Smith, S. L., Cook, C. A. (2008). Gender stereotypes: An analysis of popular films and TV. Available from http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org Google Scholar | |
|
Steinke, J., Applegate, B., Lapinski, M., Ryan, L., Long, M. (2012). Gender differences in adolescents’ wishful identification with scientist characters on television. Science Communication, 34, 163-199. doi:10.1177/1075547011410250 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Thompson, J. K., van den Berg, P., Roehrig, M., Guarda, A. S., Heinberg, L. J. (2004). The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3): Development and validation. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35, 293-304. doi:10.1002/eat.10257 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Turner, J. C., Brown, R. J., Tajfel, H. (1979). Social comparison and group interest in in-group favouritism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 9, 187-204. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420090207 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Tylka, T. L. (2011). Refinement of the tripartite influence model for men: Dual body image pathways to body change behaviors. Body Image, 8, 199-207. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.04.008 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Ward, L. M., Harrison, K. (2005). The impact of media use on girls’ beliefs about gender roles, their bodies, and sexual relationships: A research synthesis. In Cole, E., Daniel, J. H. (Eds.), Featuring females: Feminist analyses of media (pp. 3-23). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Mortimer, J. T. (2006). Adolescent work, vocational development, and education. Review of Educational Research, 76, 537-566. doi:10.3102/00346543076004537 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Zurbriggen, E. L., Roberts, T.-A. (2013). The sexualization of girls and girlhood: Causes, consequences, and resistance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar |
Author Biographies
Elizabeth A. Daniels is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her research interests are in the areas of media, body image, and gender.
Aurora M. Sherman is an associate professor at Oregon State University. Her research interests include socialization patterns in childhood and social relationships and health.
