Citation

Smith DS, Schacter HL, Enders C, Juvonen J. J. Youth Adolesc. 2018; 47(5): 947-960.

Affiliation

University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10964-017-0732-2

PMID

28836082

Abstract

Youth who feel they do not fit with gender norms frequently experience peer victimization and socioemotional distress. To gauge differences between schools, the current study examined the longitudinal effects of school-level gender norm salience-a within-school association between gender typicality and peer victimization-on socioemotional distress across 26 ethnically diverse middle schools (n boys = 2607; n girls = 2805). Boys (but not girls) reporting lower gender typicality experienced more loneliness and social anxiety in schools with more salient gender norms, even when accounting for both individual and school level victimization. Greater gender norm salience also predicted increased depressed mood among boys regardless of gender typicality. These findings suggest particular sensitivity among boys to environments in which low gender typicality is sanctioned.

Language: en

Keywords

Early adolescence; Gender norms; Gender typicality; Socioemotional distress