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Abstract
For young men, the transition to adulthood may be a time of heightened adherence to traditional gender roles and norms of masculinity. However, recent research with young men in gender-specific contexts has indicated that some contexts support a construction of masculinity that is more inclusive. Through a theoretical thematic analysis of interviews with young men in their first week at an all-male trade school, we explored if and how participants talked about gender and its role in their lives, how these discussions of gender may reflect individual gender ideologies, and how these discussions may inform participants’ experiences in particular developmental contexts. The themes we identified included the following: Becoming a man as an active process, experiences of male embodiment of size and strength, intersections of school identity and being a man, students’ perceptions of their all-male school environment and what it means to not have female classmates, and their reflections on the parts of themselves they see as feminine. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research with adolescents and young adults in relation to gender, relationships, and professional development.
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Author Biographies
Miriam R. Arbeit is a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Ethics Education at Fordham University. She completed her doctorate in child study and human development at Tufts University. Her work addresses adolescent sexuality development and sexual health, with particular attention to issues of gender justice and the experiences of transgender and queer youth.
Rachel M. Hershberg is a research assistant professor in the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. She completed her doctorate in applied developmental psychology at Boston College in 2012. Her current research explores critical consciousness and its relationship to well-being among migrant adolescents and other diverse groups of youth throughout the United States.
Sara K. Johnson is a research assistant professor in the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. She earned her PhD in human development and family studies (with a certificate in quantitative research methods) from the University of Connecticut. Her substantive research interests concern the interplay between identity development and civic engagement during adolescence and the transition to adulthood, and she has methodological interests in mixed methods research designs and the application of mixture modeling techniques.
Jacqueline V. Lerner is a professor of applied developmental and educational psychology in the Department of Counseling, Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. She received her PhD in educational psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests focus on the development of children and adolescents in the contexts of family, school, and community, and the embedded relationships in these contexts that contribute to positive development.
Richard M. Lerner is the bergstrom chair in applied developmental science and the director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. He received his PhD in developmental psychology from the City University of New York. His work integrates the study of public policies and community-based programs with the promotion of positive youth development and youth contributions to civil society.
