Keeping it Old School: Profiles of Traditional Gender Role Values and Life Satisfaction Among Mexican Descent...

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of traditional gender role value profiles on life satisfaction for Mexican descent youth. A latent profile analysis was conducted with 524 Mexican descent adolescents (53.1% girls and 46.9% boys; age M = 16.23 years, SD = 1.10 years) to examine endorsement of traditional gender role values. Analyses identified three profiles: modernist, pluralist, and traditionalist, reflecting the degree to which each group endorsed traditional gender roles. A multivariate analysis of variance of the latent profiles demonstrated differences in life satisfaction reports for boys and girls. Girls in the traditionalist profile reported greater overall life satisfaction compared to the pluralist and modernist profiles and greater environmental and friend satisfaction compared to the pluralist profile. For boys, the traditionalist gender value ratings reported greater overall, family, school, and environmental life satisfaction as compared to the pluralist and modernist groups. Results demonstrate that ascribing to more traditional gender role values may be protective for Mexican descent adolescents in regard to life satisfaction. We will discuss applications of our findings for practitioners working with Mexican descent youth focused on increasing positive aspects of emotional well-being.