Gender Intensification and Gender Generalization Biases in Pre-adolescents, Adolescents, and Emerging Adults

The gender intensification hypothesis claims that the socialization pressures of early adolescence lead to the adoption of traditional sex-typed roles. We tested this proposal by examining how extensively children (M_age  = 9.39 years; N = 69, 31 female), early adolescents (M_age  = 12.06 years; N = 70, 36 female), middle adolescents (M_age  = 14.81 years; N = 65, 37 female), and emerging adults (M_age  = 18.51 years; N = 70, 37 female) made generalizations from vignettes about male and female characters who had stereotypically feminine or masculine qualities and who had stereotypically neutral qualities. Results showed, first, age-related increases in gender-based generalization biases (the difference between stereotype-consistent and stereotype-neutral generalizations) to mid-adolescence and an age-related decrease in generalization biases from mid-adolescence to adulthood. Second, we found gender intensification in self-conceptualizations as masculine and feminine: More so than children and emerging adults, middle adolescents adopted stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. Third, age-related declines in gender stereotypes of occupations and traits were mediated by faith in intuition. Finally, faith in intuition and gender self-concepts moderated age-related increases in generalization biases such that the slope of the age-related increase in biases was steepest for participants who placed the most faith in intuition and whose gender self-concepts were traditional. Findings are discussed in terms of gender identification, dual-process theories of judgements, and the interference stereotypes create when adolescents construct problem representations. Statement of contribution What is already known of the adolescent appearance culture Appearance plays an important role in the psychosocial lives of adolescents. Little research has been conducted on cultural differences in the adolescent appearance culture. What this study adds to our understanding of the adolescent appearance culture Americans were more appearance focused than Chinese adolescents; girls were more appearance focused than boys. The appearance focus-country link was mediated by body esteem, activity level, and parental body size. The link between appearance focus and gender was mediated by body consciousness and perceived appearance pressure.