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Guidance Note-Project 1
Harpal Dhillon Jun 4, 2020 4:11 PM
I am reproducing below, the description of the deliverable
items for Project 1, titled ‘Network Design for Office
Building’.
The CTO has asked you to develop a network design that
provides the following:
A Microsoft word document that spells out your
network design, the recommended network cabling,
device(s), and connections between workstations,
device(s), and servers (in other words, summarize in
writing your recommendations to the above), and

develop
A physical network diagram that displays the
components specified above.
The instructions for the content of the MS WORD
document/report are quite clear and do not require any
explanation by me.
The physical network diagram will require some focused
thinking prior to its creation.
We have been provided a layout of one floor of the building.
It can be assumed that all three floors have identical
layouts.
There are two options for the layout of the physical network
diagram:
1. We can overlay the network on the building floor-
plan. In this case, we should start with each floor
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6/9/2020 View Post - Guidance Note-Project 1
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plan, and lay-out the network on the floor plan. In
this mode, we have to show the links (cables/wireless)
connecting the network segments on different floors.
2. The second option is to lay-out the network, keeping
the multiple floors in mind. After the network diagram
has been completed, you should mark the floor
associated with each part/segment of the network.
In both cases, it is going to be impossible to create a
perfect presentation of the network. Please make sure that
all components and cables are properly labeled.
It is also important to read the contents of the grading
rubric, carefully, before you finalize the report and the
network diagram.
Harpal Dhillon
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Parenthood, Gender Attitudes, and Child’s Gender
Men’s and Women’s Gender-Role Attitudes across

the Transition to Parenthood: Accounting for Child’s
Gender
Francisco Perales, Yara Jarallah, and Janeen Baxter, The
University of Queensland
Gender-role attitudes capture individuals’ degree of support for
traditional divi-sions of paid and domestic work and have been
linked to the production andreproduction of gender inequality in
different social spheres. Previous
research has established that life-course transitions are related
to within-individual
over-time change in gender-role attitudes. Most importantly,
becoming a parent is
associated with shifts toward more traditional viewpoints.
Theories of attitude
change suggest that the gender of children should influence the
pattern of gender-
attitude shifts that accompany parenthood, but very few studies
have investigated
this. We add to this literature using Australian panel data from
the Household,
Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 29,918
observations) stretch-
ing over 15 years and fixed-effects panel regression models. We
find that men’s and
women’s gender-role attitudes become more traditional when
they become parents,
with evidence that this process is more pronounced among men,
parents of daugh-
ters and, most of all, male parents of daughters.
Introduction
Gender-role attitudes capture individuals’ degree of support for
traditional divi-
sions of paid and domestic work and have been linked to the

production and
reproduction of gender inequality in different social spheres.
This is because
such attitudes influence the organization of domestic work and
childcare
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The authors would like to thank Tsui-o Tai, Walter Forrest,
Sergi Vidal, Stefanie Plage, and Chris
Ambrey for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts,
and Ella Kuskoff for her valuable
research assistance. This research was supported by the
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre
of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course
(project number CE140100027). This
paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income, and
Labour Dynamics in Australia
(HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is
funded by the Australian Government
Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the
Melbourne Institute of Applied
Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute). The
findings and views reported in this paper,
however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to
either DSS or the Melbourne
Institute. Direct correspondence to Francisco Perales, Institute
for Social Science Research,
University of Queensland, Long Pocket Precinct, 80 Meiers Rd,
Building C, Indooroopilly,
Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia; telephone: (+ 61) 7 3346 9964.
E-mail: [email protected]
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© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on
behalf of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved.
For permissions,
please e-mail: [email protected]
Social Forces 97(1) 251–276, September 2018
doi: 10.1093/sf/soy015
Advance Access publication on 15 March 2018
Parenthood, Gender Attitudes, and Child’s Gender 251
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
by Adam Ellsworth, Adam Ellsworth
on 11 August 2018
mailto: [email protected]
responsibilities within households, and shape employment
pathways and career
aspirations in gendered ways (see Davis and Greenstein [2009]
for a review). It
is therefore important that we understand the factors associated
with variations
in individuals’ support for gender-egalitarian attitudes.
Research on changes in gender-role attitudes has chiefly
examined long-term
trends in societal levels of gender egalitarianism, differences
across cohorts, and
the relative contributions of cohort-replacement and intra-
cohort aging in pro-

ducing attitude change at the aggregate level (Brewster and
Padavic 2000;
Danigelis, Hardy, and Cutler 2007). A more recent and smaller
pool of studies
has begun to shift attention to whether and how gender-role
attitudes change
within individuals over their life courses. These studies have
provided compel-
ling evidence that key life-course transitions (e.g., attaining
educational qualifi-
cations, relationship entry and breakdown, and parenthood) are
associated with
within-individual change in gender-role attitudes (Cunningham
et al. 2005;
Evertsson 2013; Kroska and Elman 2009; Schober and Scott
2012).
The transition to parenthood has been the subject of a great deal
of attention in
this literature (Baxter et al. 2015), yet few studies have paid
attention to whether
the child’s gender moderates parenthood effects on gender-role
attitudes. This pos-
sibility has nevertheless been more thoroughly tested in relation
to other types of
attitudes and behaviors (see Raley and Bianchi [2006] for a
review). As Lee and
Conley (2016, 1104) suggest, it may be that “children socialize
their parents (rather
than the other way around).” As will be discussed, the notion of
child’s gender
being a factor influencing parental gender-role attitudes is in
fact embedded in the-
ories of gender-attitude change, including exposure-based and
interest-based theo-
ries (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004; Conley and Rauscher 2013;

Kroska and Elman
2009; Lee and Conley 2016), perspectives based on gendered
societal expectations
(Bianchi and Milkie 2010; Connell and Messerschmidt 2005;
Deaux 1985; Lips
2001; Lorber 1995; Steiner 2007), and backfire effect theories
(Nyhan and Reifler
2010; Nyhan, Reifler, and Ubel 2013). The existing empirical
evidence is neverthe-
less limited and mixed with, to our knowledge, only four North
American studies
having examined this issue (Conley and Rauscher 2013;
Downey, Jackson, and
Powell 1994; Shafer and Malhotra 2011; Warner 1991). Of
these, only one
leverages longitudinal data (Shafer and Malhotra 2011).
In this paper, we examine whether and how the traditionalizing
effect of par-
enthood on the gender-role attitudes of men and women varies
with the gender
of firstborn children, considering all permutations of parents’
and child’s gender.
Unlike most previous cross-sectional studies, we use panel data
from the
Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia
(HILDA) Survey
stretching over 15 years and fixed-effects panel regression
models.
Background
Existing empirical evidence
A growing literature spanning across the social sciences is
concerned with the as-
sociations between the gender of children and parental and
family outcomes

252 Social Forces 97(1)
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018
(Raley and Bianchi 2006). For example, there are reported links
between chil-
dren’s gender and marital stability (Morgan, Lye, and Condran
1988), parenting
practices (Lytton and Romney 1991), the allocation of
household labor
(Pollmann-Schult hias. 2015. Sons, Daughters, and the Parental
Division of Paid
Work and Housework. Journal of Family Issues 38(1):100–23."
2015), educa-
tional investments in children (Freese and Powell 1999), and
parental employ-
ment patterns (Lundberg and Rose 2002). Studies have also
revealed associations
between children’s gender and individual partisanship (Conley
and Rauscher
2013), CEO’s wage policies (Dahl, Dezso, and Ross 2012),
approval of military
interventions (Urbatsch 2009), and support for gender-equity
policies (Warner
and Steel 1999) and the conservative party (Oswald and
Powdthavee 2010).
Additionally, judges and legislators with daughters are more
likely to vote in
favor of women’s rights legislation than those with sons (Glynn
and Sen 2015;

Washington 2008).
Specific studies on the relationship between the gender of
children and paren-
tal gender-role attitudes are, however, sparse. Warner (1991)
used cross-
sectional data from individuals in Detroit and Toronto (n =
1,808) and found
that men and women with firstborn daughters were more
supportive of gender-
egalitarian attitudes than men and women with firstborn sons.
This association
was apparent for Canadian but not American men. Similarly,
Downey, Jackson,
and Powell (1994) used cross-sectional data from mothers in
Indiana (n = 228)
and found that those with firstborn sons were more likely to
support traditional
gender roles than those with firstborn daughters. These studies
relied on non-
probability, non-nationally representative, and relatively small
samples, and so
their findings are not generalizable to the broader population.
Conley and Rauscher (2013) were the first to use representative
data from the
1994 US General Social Survey (n = 1,051) and found no
evidence that having a
firstborn daughter relative to a firstborn son was associated
with parental
gender-role attitudes. However, this and the previous studies
relied on cross-
sectional data to document a process (attitude change) that is
inherently longitu-
dinal, which limited their ability to assess over-time change.
The data they used

are now also quite old. A more recent study using US panel data
from the
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (n = 3,145
individuals) was under-
taken by Shafer and Malhotra (2011). This found that having a
firstborn daugh-
ter (relative to having a firstborn son) slightly reduces men’s
support for
traditional gender roles, but has no effect on women’s support
for such roles.
Aims and contributions
Our paper adds to the existing literature in several ways. First,
while previous
studies have examined the relationships between parenthood,
child’s gender,
and gender-role attitudes, none of them invoked the four
complementary per-
spectives on life-course gender-attitude change that we use here
(interest-based,
exposure-based, gendered societal expectation, and backfire
effect theories).
Second, we examine the effect of child’s gender on gender-role
attitudes within
individuals over time using nationally representative Australian
panel data. This
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018

enables us to compare the same individuals before and after the
transition to
parenthood, generalize our findings to the Australian
population, and test the
generalizability of the available North American evidence in a
different socio-
cultural environment. Third, we examine gender-attitude
trajectories over time
since entry to parenthood. This allows us to provide a more
granular picture of
the ways in which attitudes change over and beyond the
transition to parent-
hood, and whether or not individuals revert to their pre-
parenthood gender-role
attitudes.
Interest-based theories of life-course attitude change
Interest-based theories of gender-attitude change rest on the
assumption that in-
dividuals’ interest structures (i.e., the goals they strive for) are
the driving force
behind their gender beliefs (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004;
Kroska and Elman
2009). It follows that, if individuals’ interest structures change,
their gender-role
attitudes should change in response. Importantly, the notion of
“interest” in this
context can be extended beyond the self to encompass
significant others. For
instance, if a man’s wife enters the workforce, he might benefit
more from gen-
der equality (e.g., his household income would be higher in the
absence of gen-
der pay gaps) and change his attitudes toward more gender-
egalitarian beliefs as
a result (Cha and Thébaud 2009).

Interest-based explanations for gender-attitude change can be
used to make
predictions about how child’s gender may affect gender-role
attitudes across the
transition to parenthood. Men and women who become parents
of a girl should
benefit more from a gender-egalitarian society in which their
daughters are trea-
ted fairly and permitted to enjoy the full range of opportunities.
For example, it
would be in the best interest of parents of daughters to live in a
society in which
intimate partner violence against women is not tolerated, or in
which there are
no gender pay gaps. For parents of sons, however, there may be
fewer perceived
advantages associated with societal gender egalitarianism. The
perpetuation of
the current status quo, in which girls and women remain
disadvantaged in a
range of life domains, may in fact result in a comparative
advantage for their
male sons. Hence, the interest structures of parents of girls
should become more
closely aligned with the goal of gender equality than the interest
structures of
parents of boys and, as a result, their gender-role attitudes
should become com-
paratively more egalitarian.
It is also possible that parental gender moderates how interest
structures oper-
ate in this context. On the one hand, out of their own personal
interest, women’s
gender-role attitudes prior to the transition to parenthood may

already reflect
that women benefit more than men from a gender-egalitarian
society. Hence, the
arrival of a firstborn daughter may be associated with a stronger
shift toward
egalitarianism in gender-role attitudes among men, for whom
their presence
would constitute a more significant addition to their interest
structures (Davis
and Greenstein 2009). On the other hand, psychological studies
on parent-child
attachment have reported stronger bonds between same-gender
parent-child
dyads (or same-gender filial preferences), whereby fathers have
a predilection for
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018
their sons and women for their daughters (McHale, Crouter, and
Whiteman
2003; Raley and Bianchi 2006; Rossi and Rossi 1990). Thus,
firstborn daughters
may have a greater potential to shift mothers’ than fathers’
interest structures.
Hence, becoming a parent of a firstborn daughter may be
associated with a
stronger shift toward more gender-egalitarian attitudes among
women.

Exposure-based theories of life-course attitude change
Exposure-based theories of gender-attitude change argue that
gender beliefs are
rooted in ill-founded, stereotypical assumptions about women’s
(and men’s)
capabilities and the nature of femininity (Bolzendahl and Myers
2004). Gender-
role attitudes can thus change if individuals become exposed to
circumstances,
situations, and experiences that challenge such assumptions
(Davis and Greenstein
2009). For example, men may change their perceptions about
women being ill
suited to undertake certain jobs if they meet successful women
at the workplace
(Bolzendahl and Myers 2004).
Based on exposure-based theories, it can be argued that
individuals who
become parents of girls will likely face situations that expose
them to unfair, dis-
criminatory behavior toward females. For example, parents may
witness their
daughters being tracked into gender-typical play groups and
educational path-
ways (e.g., home economics lessons), denied access to clubs and
societies (e.g.,
sporting clubs), or being the subject of the “male gaze” and
inappropriate ste-
reotypical or sexual comments (Kane 2012). These experiences
and circum-
stances should make parents of girls more aware of structural
inequalities
unfavorable to women that emerge due to traditional gender
ideologies, and
should in turn lead them to question and reassess their own

gender-role attitudes
toward more egalitarian standpoints (see, e.g., Weitzman 2015).
Parents of sons,
on the other hand, should be exposed to few (if any) structural
factors disadvan-
taging their male children, given a societal status quo that
clearly favors men
and masculinity. Instead, parents of sons may be more likely to
encounter situa-
tions in which (hegemonic) masculinity (Connell and
Messerschmidt 2005) is ex-
alted and reinforced, such as participation in and attendance at
sporting
activities or consumption of male-typed entertainment and
media products.
Hence, exposure-based theories also lead to the prediction that
men and women
with firstborn daughters should experience less
traditionalization in their
gender-role attitudes after the transition to parenthood than men
and women
with firstborn sons.
Using exposure-based perspectives, it is also possible to
anticipate parental
gender to have a moderating role. On the one hand, women may
be more
knowledgeable about gender-based discrimination than men due
to their own
experiences prior to becoming mothers, and so the addition of
their daughters to
their lives may entail less exposure to new situations than for
men (Lee and
Conley 2016; Shafer and Malhotra 2011). In these
circumstances, one would
expect a stronger shift toward gender egalitarianism among

men. On the other
hand, parents spend more time with children of their same
gender (McHale,
Crouter, and Whiteman 2003; Raley and Bianchi 2006; Rossi
and Rossi 1990).
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018
Hence, women with firstborn girls may be more likely than men
with firstborn
girls to witness acts of discrimination against their daughters
that prompt them
to reconsider their gender-role attitudes (Bolzendahl and Myers
2004).
Becoming a parent of a firstborn daughter may therefore be
associated with a
comparatively stronger shift toward egalitarianism in gender-
role attitudes
among women.
Altogether, both interest- and exposure-based theories lead us to
predict that:
Hypothesis 1: Men and women with firstborn daughters will
experience
less traditionalization in their gender-role attitudes after the
transition to
parenthood than men and women with firstborn sons.

In addition, both theories suggest that parents with firstborn
girls should become
more aware of gender-based discrimination and develop
stronger interests in
gender equality as their daughters grow older and face a greater
variety of social
contexts and circumstances (Shafer and Malhotra 2011). In our
analyses, we
will test this premise empirically by estimating models that
account for time
since the birth of the first child (details below).
Gendered societal expectations
During the early years, new parents may mainly think of their
sons and daugh-
ters as dependents and receivers of care, which has implications
for how the
child’s interest is defined. In this context, parents may shift
their worldviews to
place more value on a system in which an adult is ever-present
and fully commit-
ted to providing care and emotional support to the child (Rose
and Elicker
2010). From the parental side, this process has a well-
established and strong
gender component: normative, institutionally enforced gender
scripts dictate
that it should be the child’s mother who adopts the main
caregiver role (Bianchi
and Milkie 2010; Steiner 2007). As we explain below, this
process may also be
gendered on the child’s side.
Parents draw upon normative expectations when adapting to the
require-
ments of and changes brought about by parenthood. This is

particularly appli-
cable to first-time parents, as they lack personal experiences on
which to draw.
Contemporary societal discourses around parenthood are often
deeply gendered,
as exemplified by well-established normative beliefs that
mothers are better
equipped and more capable than fathers to care for young
children. Additionally,
social pressures operate to make parents conform to these
normative expecta-
tions, with new parents being “bombarded” with advice about
parenthood and
parenting by family members, friends, acquaintances, health
professionals, and
even strangers, as well as media channels (Moseley, Freed, and
Goold 2010). In
addition, there are also deeply ingrained societal discourses
about the nature of
boyhood and girlhood. Consistent with the social construction
of femininity and
masculinity in Western societies, a common theme in these
discourses is the por-
trayal of girls as weak, fragile, passive, and dependent, and of
boys as strong,
able, active, and independent (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005;
Deaux 1985;
Lips 2001; Lorber 1995).
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018

It follows that the arrival of a firstborn daughter may elicit
stronger protective
and intensive parenting feelings among first-time parents than
the arrival of a
firstborn son. These feelings may involve more acute
perceptions that the child is
a delicate entity that requires parental attention, care, and
protection, and that it
is not appropriate for young children to attend out-of-home
childcare on a full-
time basis. This resonates with psychological research evidence
that parents treat
their daughters different than their sons in ways that reproduce
gender stereo-
types. For example, parents of daughters are more likely than
parents of sons to
discourage aggression or to display warmth toward the child,
with gender-
biased parental treatment being more prevalent among fathers
than mothers
(Raley and Bianchi 2006). The argument is also consistent with
findings from
criminology research that parents of girls experience fear of
crime more often
than parents of boys (Vozmediano et al. 2017).
Due to the gendered nature of household divisions of labor and
of govern-
ment support to parents in countries such as Australia, for most
parents the only
realistic or conceivable option to engage in intensive parenting
is for the mother
to assume the associated responsibilities (Buchler, Perales, and
Baxter 2017). In

these circumstances, changes toward stronger beliefs in
protective or intensive
parenting across the transition to parenthood actually equate to
changes toward
stronger beliefs in traditional gender divisions (Rose and
Elicker 2010).
Therefore, one could expect shifts toward more traditional
parental gender-role
attitudes with the arrival of a firstborn daughter, compared to a
firstborn son.
A corollary is that the predicted shift toward more traditional
gender-role atti-
tudes with the birth of a firstborn girl may be more pronounced
among men, for
whom “traditionalizing” is less costly—it involves changing
their views but not
their behaviors. In fact, it would be in men’s personal benefit to
traditionalize
and adopt viewpoints that depict a status quo in which they are
not responsible
for activities that are typically not highly valued—such as
routine childcare
tasks. In contrast, for most women, traditionalizing involves not
only reassessing
their attitudes, but also reconsidering how these fit with their
new roles and be-
haviors as mothers, which may lead to cognitive dissonance—a
misalignment
between one’s attitudes and behaviors that produces
psychological strain
(Baxter et al. 2015; Buchler, Perales, and Baxter 2017). Hence,
it is less costly
for men than women to “indulge” social expectations and adopt
views of girls
requiring more intensive parenting. This suggests that shifts

toward more tradi-
tional gender-role attitudes across the transition to parenthood
should be stron-
ger among men than women with firstborn daughters.
Based on this, we develop a second set of hypotheses:
Hypothesis 2: Men and women with firstborn daughters will
experience
more traditionalization in their gender-role attitudes after the
transition
to parenthood than men and women with firstborn sons.
Hypothesis 3: Men with firstborn daughters will experience
compara-
tively more traditionalization in their gender-role attitudes after
the
transition to parenthood than women with firstborn daughters.
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018
Backfire effect theories
Hypotheses 2 and 3 are consistent with predictions from
backfire effect theories.
These argue that, when people’s personal attitudes are based on
unfounded con-
victions, encountering new situations or information
challenging their views
may actually result in people holding more strongly to their

beliefs (Nyhan and
Reifler 2010; Nyhan, Reifler, and Ubel 2013). Evidence of
backfire effects has
been found for attitudes toward the Iraq War, tax cuts, stem cell
research, health
care expenditure, or global warming (see e.g., Nyhan and
Reifler 2010; Nyhan,
Reifler, and Ubel 2013).
Backfire effect theories suggest that, if parents of firstborn
daughters become
disproportionately exposed to situations that challenge their
gender beliefs, such
exposure would lead these individuals to hold on to traditional
gender beliefs.
Additionally, these perspectives suggest that those people who
hold the most
conservative gender-role attitudes prior to parenthood would
more strongly
hold on to them post-parenthood. This suggests that, with
parenthood, the atti-
tudes of men with firstborn daughters should become
comparatively more tradi-
tional than those of women with firstborn daughters.
Table A1 provides a summary of the expectations of each of the
theories dis-
cussed. While our four theoretical perspectives are presented
separately, it must
be noted that in practice there are significant overlaps between
them. For exam-
ple, consistent with exposure-based theories, interest-based
theories assume
awareness and exposure to discriminatory practices against
girls, with interest
being structured around avoidance of such practices and their

potential conse-
quences on female daughters. Likewise, backfire effect theories
also assume the
existence of exposure to such situations, with the difference
being that under this
framework they are expected to elicit different psychological
reactions in par-
ents. Also, the different perspectives bear diverging temporal
implications:
interest-based, exposure-based, and backfire effect theories
assume a progressive
shift toward more traditional parental gender ideologies as
children age and par-
ents encounter new situations that challenge their gender
attitudes, while gen-
dered societal expectations theory assumes more immediate and
perhaps more
fleeting effects of childbirth on parental attitudes.
The Australian context
The available research on child’s gender and parental gender-
role attitudes has,
to our knowledge, exclusively relied on data from the United
States and one
Canadian city. An innovative aspect of our paper is our focus on
a different
country: Australia. Expanding the evidence base beyond the
United States is
important to ascertain the generalizability of the available
findings, and to begin
to tease out how institutional contexts may matter. Doing so,
however, poses
questions about whether or not the theoretical mechanisms
outlined before oper-
ate similarly or differently across countries, and specifically
between the United

States (where most research on this topic has been conducted)
and Australia
(where our data come from).
abstract/97/1/251/4938482
on 11 August 2018
Interest- and exposure-based theories should operate more
strongly in societal
contexts in which being female is associated with a deeper
degree of disadvan-
tage. In this regard, the Australian and US contexts are very
similar. For
instance, Australia and the United States rank 45th and 46th
(out of 144 coun-
tries) in the 2016 Global Gender Gap Index (World Economic
Forum 2016).
Therefore, according to interest- and exposure-based theories,
we should expect
similar relationships between child’s gender and parental
gender-role attitudes in
Australia and the United States.
The gendered societal expectations argument should operate
more strongly in
societies in which intensive parenting ideologies prevail, and in
which gender
stereotypes remain deeply ingrained. While, to our knowledge,
there is no cross-
national comparative evidence of (dis)similarities in gender

stereotyping in
Australia and the United States, there is evidence to suggest
that intensive parent-
ing ideologies are more widespread in Australia than the United
States. For exam-
ple, both working and non-working adults in Australia spend a
greater share of
their time on care activities than their US counterparts (OECD
2016a). In addi-
tion, Australia features a more generous, mandated paid
parental leave scheme:
women are entitled to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave paid at
a 42 percent pay-
ment rate (equivalent …
The Development and Correlates of Gender Role Orientations in
African-American Youth
Olivenne D. Skinner and Susan M. McHale
The Pennsylvania State University
This study charted the development of gendered personality
qualities, activity interests, and attitudes across
adolescence (approximately ages 9–18) among 319 African-
American youth from 166 families. The relations
between daily time spent with father, mother, and male and
female peers—the gendered contexts of youth’s
daily activities—and (changes in) these gender role orientations
were also assessed. Boys and girls differed in
their gender role orientations in stereotypical ways: interest in
masculine and feminine activities, and attitude
traditionality generally declined, but instrumentality increased
across adolescence and expressivity first
increased and later decreased. Some gender differences and

variations in change were conditioned by time
spent with same- and other-sex gender parents and peers. The
most consistent pattern was time with male
peers predicting boys’ stereotypical characteristics.
Gender is one of the most salient of youth’s social
identities and has implications for their achieve-
ment-related behaviors, interpersonal relationships,
and adjustment (Galambos, Berenbaum, & McHale,
2009). Among African-American youth, gender
socialization and experiences take place within the
context of their racialized experiences (Crenshaw,
Ochen, & Nanda, 2015) and as such, gender devel-
opment emerges at the intersection of youth’s racial
and gender identities. Research focused on gender
development of African-American youth and its
correlates are important given findings of gender
differences in key domains of adjustment and well-
being in this racial/ethnic group. For instance, Afri-
can-American girls are more likely than boys to
experience sexual harassment, interpersonal vio-
lence, and depression, all of which are negatively
related to outcomes such as academic achievement
and psychological adjustment (Belgrave, 2009;
Crenshaw et al., 2015). The challenges faced by
many African-American boys also are distinct in
some ways, but equally pervasive. These include
more frequent discrimination by teachers, lower
educational expectations from parents, more fre-
quent negative encounters with police, and less
access to early psychological care in comparison to
African-American girls (Barbarin, Murry, Tolan, &
Graham, 2016). Importantly, these gendered experi-
ences may have downstream implications, as evi-
dent in studies documenting gender differences

among African-American youth in academic,
employment, and health outcomes (Gregory, Skiba,
& Noguera, 2010; Losen, 2011; Matthews, Kizzie,
Rowley, & Cortina, 2010).
Among African Americans, biological sex also
has implications for family roles and experiences.
For example, African-American mothers tend to
place more demands on their daughters than their
sons; mothers’ concerns about boys’ more pervasive
experiences of racial discrimination may account for
such differences in parenting (Mandara, Varner, &
Richman, 2010; Varner & Mandara, 2014). In adult-
hood, African-Americans’ family gender roles are
manifested in low marriage rates, with close to 50%
of African-American children growing up in single-
mother headed households—as compared to 23% in
the general population (Child Trends Databank,
2015). In addition to family roles, African-Ameri-
cans’ history of slavery and economic marginaliza-
tion also has had implications for gender roles as
seen in African-American women’s long-standing
involvement in the labor force, limited employment
opportunities for African-American men, and in
some studies, men’s involvement in housework
(Hill, 2001; Penha-Lopes, 2006).
This research was supported by a grant from the Eunice Ken-
nedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human
Development (R01 HD32336), Susan McHale and Ann Crouter,
Co-PIs.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Olivenne D. Skinner or Susan M. McHale, Social Science
Research
Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 114 Henderson

University Park, PA 16802. Electronic mail may be sent to od-
[email protected] or [email protected]
© 2017 The Authors
Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child
Development, Inc.
All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2018/8905-0020
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12828
Child Development, September/October 2018, Volume 89,
Number 5, Pages 1704–1719
In short, historical and current social and eco-
nomic conditions have implications for family roles
and relationships in African-American families, and
correspondingly flexible gender role orientations
(Hill, 2001). Importantly, gender is multidimen-
sional, ranging, for example, from gender role atti-
tudes to daily activities, and the social construction
of gender means that gender role orientations will
vary as a function of time and place. Accordingly,
toward building an understanding of gender devel-
opment among African-American youth, in this
study we used an ethnic homogeneous research
design to capture within-group variation in gender
role orientations among African-American boys and
girls (Garcia Coll et al., 1996; McLoyd, 1998), we
capitalized on an accelerated longitudinal design to
chart within-individual changes in gender across
adolescence—a period of significant gender devel-
opment (Galambos et al., 2009)—, we examined
multiple dimensions of gender to illuminate poten-
tial multifaceted sex gender differences in gender
development (Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006),
and we tested whether time spent with male peers,

female peers, mother, and father helped to explain
changes across adolescence in boys’ and girls’ gen-
der role orientations.
The Course of Adolescent Gender Development
Several theoretical perspectives offer insights
about the course of gender development. Cognitive
theories such as gender schema theory (Martin,
Ruble, & Szkrybalo, 2002) hold that the strength or
rigidity of gender concepts and corresponding
behaviors change across development. For example,
stronger stereotyping is expected during childhood,
at least in some domains, with more flexibility
emerging later, given increased cognitive develop-
ment; further, individual differences may become
more apparent later in development based on the
salience of and values regarding gender roles (Mar-
tin et al., 2002). In contrast, the gender intensifica-
tion hypothesis suggests that gender typing
becomes more pronounced during adolescence
(Ruble et al., 2006). From this perspective, the phys-
ical changes brought on by puberty are an impetus
for increases in socialization pressures for tradi-
tional gender roles and behaviors. The changes in
puberty and looming adult roles also may lead
youth to align their personal qualities and behav-
iors with more gender stereotypical self-percep-
tions, activities, values, and interests. Integrating
cognitive and socialization frameworks, from an
ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris,
2006), the Person 9 Process 9 Context interactions
that characterize development mean that patterns
of change will differ—including for males versus
females, as a function of socialization processes,

and across contexts, such as sociocultural settings.
As noted, research on gender also has high-
lighted its multidimensionality (Ruble et al., 2006).
And, the multiple dimensions of gender—including
values, personal-social characteristics, interests, and
activities—may be subject to differing influences
and so change in different ways across develop-
ment (McHale, Kim, Dotterer, Crouter, & Booth,
2009; Ruble et al., 2006). To begin to capture its
multidimensionality, our first study goal was to
chart the course of three dimensions of gender
development that may have both concurrent and
longer-term implications for youth’s adjustment,
achievement, and life choices (Cooper, Guthrie,
Brown, & Metzger, 2011; Crockett & Beal, 2012;
Lee, Lawson, & McHale, 2015): gendered personal-
ity characteristics (expressivity and instrumentality),
interests in gender stereotypical activities, and gen-
der role attitudes.
Gendered Personality
Stereotypically masculine, instrumental qualities
reflect individual agency, including leadership and
independence, whereas stereotypically feminine,
expressive qualities reflect orientations to others, such
as kindness and sensitivity. These gendered person-
ality qualities have been linked to indices of well-
being, including anxiety and depression (Cooper
et al., 2011; Palapattu, Kingery, & Ginsburg, 2006;
Priess, Lindberg, & Hyde, 2009), making their
developmental course and correlates important
areas of study. Recent research on the development
of gendered personality qualities has produced
mixed results. A longitudinal study of majority

White youth, from middle childhood to late adoles-
cence, showed that at age 13, girls endorsed more
expressive qualities, than boys, whereas boys
endorsed more instrumental qualities (McHale
et al., 2009). Among girls, expressivity did not
change over time, but boys showed declines in
expressivity in early adolescence and increases in
later adolescence. The authors argued that this pat-
tern was consistent with gender intensification. In
addition, boys reported more instrumental qualities
over time, and consistent with a gender schema
perspective, girls’ instrumental qualities also
increased (McHale et al., 2009). In a study of White
youth ages 11–15 (Priess et al., 2009), however, girls
reported more expressive qualities than boys at all
Development of Gender Orientations 1705
ages, and this gender difference did not change
over time. Furthermore, there were no gender dif-
ferences in instrumentality. Across time, both gen-
ders showed small increases in expressivity, but
there were no changes in instrumentality.
There are few studies on African-American
youth’s gendered personality qualities, and avail-
able data are largely cross-sectional. Palapattu et al.
(2006) found that girls, ages 14–19, endorsed more
feminine-typed personality qualities than boys, but
there were no gender differences in masculine-
typed personality qualities. Some scholars have
suggested that African-American women’s long his-
tory of economic independence and family respon-
sibilities may contribute to the development of

instrumental qualities among women, and further,
that mothers may socialize girls to develop these
qualities (Hill & Zimmerman, 1995; Sharp & Ispa,
2009). A cross-sectional study of 11- to 14-year-olds,
however, revealed that African-American boys
endorsed more instrumental qualities than girls,
and girls reported more expressive qualities than
boys (Zand & Thomson, 2005). Inconsistencies
across these studies may stem from their focus on
different age groups, such that less stereotypical
traits emerge in later adolescence, particularly
among girls. Such a pattern would be consistent
with gender schema theory and with the press for
instrumental traits within this sociocultural context.
However, we found no longitudinal studies of the
development of gendered personality qualities in
African-American youth.
Gendered Activity Interests
Interest in stereotypically feminine and mascu-
line activities is one of the first gender differences
to emerge, and gendered interests in childhood
have been shown to have long-term implications
for education and occupational achievement in
young adulthood (Lee et al., 2015). Research with
majority White youth shows that both boys and
girls are less interested in cross-gendered activities
than same-gendered activities, although girls dis-
play more flexible activity interests than boys
(Lee et al., 2015; Ruble et al., 2006). Longitudinal
research has documented stable gender differences
from childhood through late adolescence, but
overall declines in both masculine- (math, sports)
and feminine- (reading, dance) typed activity
interests for both genders that may reflect increas-

ing specialization of interests across development
(Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, & Wigfield, 2002;
McHale et al., 2009).
Studies of gendered activity interests among
African-American youth are largely cross-sectional
and limited to occupational interests. These data
suggest that, in middle childhood, similar to their
White and Hispanic peers, African-American chil-
dren report gender-typed occupational interests
(e.g., nursing and teaching by girls, law enforce-
ment, and sports by boys), but that older elemen-
tary school-aged girls select less gender
stereotypical careers in comparison to boys (Bobo,
Hildreth, & Durodoye, 1998); the pattern for girls is
consistent with a gender schema perspective.
Whether these gender differences exist in later ado-
lescence remains unknown, although a cross-sec-
tional study of youth ages 14–18 showed that
African-American girls aspired more to professional
occupations such as business owner and professor
in comparison to boys (Mello, Anton-Stang, Mon-
aghan, Roberts, & Worrell, 2012). Also of relevance,
research documents that African-American boys
spend more time in stereotypically masculine activi-
ties such as sports, whereas African-American girls
spend more time in feminine-typed activities such
as academics and socializing (Larson, Richards,
Sims, & Dworkin, 2001; Posner & Vandell, 1999).
Gender Role Attitudes
Gender role attitudes are associated with youth’s
expectations about education as well as the ages of
transitions into adult roles such as spouse and par-
ent, and they predict actual educational attainment

and family formation (Crockett & Beal, 2012; Cun-
ningham, Beutel, Barber, & Thornton, 2005; Davis
& Pearce, 2007). Consistent with the idea that men
gain more than women from stereotypical roles
(Ferree, 1990), in a national sample of 14- to 25-
year-old White, Hispanic, and African-American
youth, male participants endorsed more traditional
gender attitudes about work and family roles than
female participants but, consistent with a gender
schema perspective, gender differences were smal-
ler in young adulthood as compared to in adoles-
cence because young men espoused relatively less
traditional attitudes (Davis, 2007). A longitudinal
study of White youth likewise revealed gender dif-
ferences marked by boys’ greater traditionality, but
an overall pattern of change consistent with gender
intensification: declines in traditionality from child-
hood to early adolescence, leveling out between the
ages of 13 and 15, and increases in traditionality in
later adolescence. Consistent with an ecological per-
spective that highlights Person 9 Context interac-
tions in development, this change pattern was
1706 Skinner and McHale
moderated by the combination of youth’s personal
characteristics and family characteristics, including
parents’ gender attitudes (Crouter, Whiteman,
McHale, & Osgood, 2007). One longitudinal study
of African-American youth’s gender attitudes
regarding marital roles was based on the same data
set used here. Results from that study showed that
girls exhibited less traditional gender attitudes than
boys, and consistent with a gender schema perspec-

tive, youth’s traditional attitudes declined from
ages 9 to 15 and leveled off in later adolescence
(Lam, Stanik, & McHale, 2017).
In sum, the available research—primarily
focused on White youth—and the more limited
research on African-American youth document gen-
der differences across several dimensions of gender
role orientations, with some suggestion that girls
are less stereotyped than boys. The few longitudinal
data on African-American youth, however, do not
provide a consistent picture of gender development
across adolescence, leaving open the question of
whether gender stereotyping is intensified or
becomes more flexible, allowing for a broader range
of opportunities and choices by later adolescence.
Because African-American youth may reside in
families and communities in which gender roles are
flexible, we expected that they would exhibit less
stereotypical personal qualities, interest, and atti-
tudes across adolescence.
The Social Contexts of Gender Development
Our second study goal was aimed at illuminat-
ing the correlates of individual differences in pat-
terns of within-individual change. Here, we focused
on the social contexts of youth’s daily activities,
specifically time spent with male peers, female
peers, mother, and father, as potential correlates of
the development of their gender role orientations.
From an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner &
Morris, 2006), daily activities are an impetus to
(and consequence of) development: Time in activi-
ties affords opportunities for the development of
interests, skills, attitudes, and social relationships,

which in turn provide impetus to youth’s choices
about how and with whom to spend their time.
From a social-learning perspective as well, time
spent with male and female partners will have
implications for development, as youth acquire
skills, values, and attitudes through practice and
reinforcement processes, direct teaching about gen-
der roles, and observation of significant others
(Ruble & Martin, 1998). We drew on these perspec-
tives to examine the relations between time spent
with male peers, female peers, mother, and father,
and the development of gendered personality quali-
ties, interests, and gender attitudes among African-
American youth.
The role of parents in their children’s gender
development is one of the most widely studied
topics in the literature on gender socialization, but
we know very little about such normative processes
in African-American families. Some work suggests
that African-American mothers treat boys and girls
differently, but research has not yet linked maternal
socialization to African-American youth’s gender
development (Hill & Zimmerman, 1995; Smetana,
2011; Varner & Mandara, 2014). Given the distinc-
tive challenges experienced by African-American
girls versus boys, however, an important step is to
begin to illuminate African-American parents’ role
in their children’s gender development. Incorporat-
ing fathers into research on gender development is
another important step; we know very little about
the role of residential fathers in African-American
youth’s development.
Like parents, peers are important agents of

socialization. Peers model and reinforce gendered
behaviors, and peer interactions provide opportuni-
ties for practicing gendered behaviors and skills
(Martin & Fabes, 2001). Indeed, in a short-term lon-
gitudinal study with White children, Martin and
Fabes (2001) found that same-gender play predicted
increases in aggression, rough and tumble play,
and activity level among boys. In contrast, same-
gender play predicted lower aggression and activity
level among girls. In addition, time spent with
same-gender partners in play predicted increases
over time in gender-typed play for both boys and
girls. Among African Americans, research also
highlights the significance of male peers in shaping
stereotypically masculine behaviors among boys
(Roberts-Douglass & Curtis-Boles, 2013).
We built on this research to examine whether the
amounts of time youth spent with their father and
their mother, male peers, and female peers were
related to (changes over time) in youth’s gendered
personality qualities, gendered interests, and gender
role attitudes. Based on social-learning theory time
spent with same-gender peers should be linked to
more stereotypical gender role orientations and
time spend with peers of the other gender should
be linked to less stereotypical ones. Studying White
youth in middle childhood through adolescence,
however, McHale et al. (2009) found that amounts
of time spent with both male and female peers were
related to higher levels of instrumental qualities;
further, time spent with female peers was negatively
Development of Gender Orientations 1707

related to feminine activity interests. These findings
suggest that during adolescence, time spent with
male and female peers may have different socializa-
tion implications than in childhood such that peers
promote independence and other instrumental qual-
ities but may discourage “femininity.”
Further highlighting the complexity of the role of
social partners in youth’s gender role orientations,
Mandara, Murray, and Joyner (2005) found that
adolescents from father present households—both
boys and girls— reported more gender stereotypical
personality qualities in comparison to adolescents
whose fathers did not reside with them. Suggestive
of fathers’ role in gender development, controlling
for other family demographics, boys who resided
with fathers reported more stereotypically mascu-
line qualities than boys who did not reside with
their fathers, and girls from lower-income house-
holds who resided with fathers reported less stereo-
typically masculine qualities than girls who did not
reside with fathers (Mandara et al., 2005). The
authors suggested that the everyday presence of
fathers in their children’s lives might account for
these patterns: Boys may model their fathers’ mas-
culine-typed behaviors, and fathers may encourage
complementary qualities in their daughters and
therefore support the development of more stereo-
typical gender role orientations in both girls and
boys (Parke, 1996). Given these findings, we tested
if the effects of time spent with mother, father, male
peers, and female peers differed for girls and boys.
The Present Study

In sum, highlighting the intersectionality of gen-
der and race, extant research reveals differences in
their socioculturally relevant experiences as well as
in the adjustment and achievement of African-
American girls versus boys (Skinner, Perkins,
Wood, & Kurtz-Costes, 2016). Accordingly, in an
effort to advance understanding of the normative
processes of gender development in these youth,
this study addressed two goals. Our first goal was
to chart the developmental course of African-Amer-
ican girls’ versus boys’ gender role orientations in
three domains: (a) gendered personality qualities,
specifically expressivity (sensitive, kind) and instru-
mentality (independent, adventurous); (b) interests
in traditionally masculine (sports, hunting) and
feminine (dance, shopping) activities; and (c) gen-
dered attitudes toward childrearing roles. From a
gender schema perspective, we would expect that
both girls and boys would show declines in stereo-
typicality over time, although from a gender
intensification perspective, we may see some
increase in traditionality beginning in early adoles-
cence. Our second goal was to test whether the
amounts of time they spent with mother, father,
male peers, and female peers were linked to
(changes in) girls’ and boys’ gender role orienta-
tions and whether those linkages varied by adoles-
cents’ gender. Based on social-learning theory we
expected that time spent with males would be
related to more stereotypical orientations for boys
and less for girls, and that time spent with females
would be related to more stereotypical orientations
for girls and less for boys. Prior empirical examina-
tion of these theories of gender development, how-
ever, have not taken into account the

intersectionality between gender and race, and thus
we use an ethnic homogeneous design to test
whether these predicted patterns differ for African-
American girls versus boys.
Method
Data Source and Sample
The sample included mothers, fathers, and 319
African-American youth, specifically up to two sib-
lings from 166 families. Families were recruited as
part of a 3-year longitudinal study on gender
socialization and gender development in two-parent
African-American families. Data were collected dur-
ing 2002–2004. We used an accelerated longitudinal
research design in which cohorts (in our case, sib-
lings) of different ages are repeatedly assessed,
resulting in overlapping measurements of age
groups across a longer age span than one cohort
provides (Duncan, Duncan, & Hops, 1996; Miyazaki
& Raudenbush, 2000). This method allows for a
shorter follow-up period of participants thus reduc-
ing the problem of repeated testing and attrition in
comparison to single-cohort longitudinal designs.
Results from accelerated longitudinal research
designs adequately capture development and the
effects of covariates are similar to results obtained
from true longitudinal designs wherein the same
individuals are studied over time (Duncan et al.,
1996).
To be eligible, families self-identified as Black/
African American and included a mother and a
father figure who resided together and were raising
at least two adolescent-aged children. In families

with more than two children, the two closest to age
13 were recruited. About half of the families were
recruited by African-American recruiters in local
communities in the mid-Atlantic region of the
1708 Skinner and McHale
United States who posted advertisements and dis-
tributed flyers at youth activities. The remaining
families were recruited from the same geographic
region via mailings purchased from a marketing
firm. In Year 1, 202 families participated. For these
analyses we did not include data from families in
which the parents were not romantically involved
(e.g., mother living with her father; n = 7), parents
who ended their relationship throughout the course
of the study (n = 23), or families in which mother
and father figures resided together for less than
3 years (n = 6). Attrition across the 3 years of the
study was 5%. All youth self-identified as Black/
African American, as did 95% of mothers and 97%
of fathers. The average educational level was
14.67 years (SD = 1.82; range = 9–19) for mothers
and 14.37 years (SD = 2.36; range = 5–19) for
fathers (a score of 12 indicated high school gradu-
ate). The median family income was $85,000
(SD = $58,740, range = $3,000–$525,000), however,
the median income for mothers was $33,500
(SD = $22,617) and for father was $45,000
(SD = $48,211). The sample was comprised mostly
of two-earner families with adolescent-aged chil-
dren (i.e., older parents working in the labor force
for a longer period of time), which likely accounts
for the overall high median family income. The

ranges of parental education and family income,
however, suggest that the sample was largely
working to middle class, with some lower and
upper variation.
Given age differences between siblings and three
waves of data collection, between n = 30 and
n = 151 siblings provided data at each chronologi-
cal age from 9 (age 8.50–9.50) to 18 (age 17.50–
18.50) years allowing us to chart gender develop-
ment from middle childhood through adolescence
(ages 9–18). In the first year of the study, older sib-
lings averaged 13.95 years (SD = 1.88;
range = 10.03–18.49) and younger siblings averaged
10.48 years (SD = 1.00; range = 8.52–12.92).
Procedures
Data collection involved two procedures. First,
during each of the 3 years of the study, two Afri-
can-American interviewers conducted separate
home interviews with fathers, mothers, and each of
the two target youth about their personal qualities
and family relationships. We used data from youth
about their gender role orientations and data from
parents about family demographics and their own
gendered interests. Informed consent/assent was
obtained prior to the interviews, and families
received a $200–300 honorarium for participation.
The project was approved by the university’s Insti-
tutional Review Board (IRB).
The second data collection procedure was used
to gather information about youth’s time spent with
male peers, female peers, mother, and father. Dur-

ing the month following the home interviews in the
first and third years of the study, seven nightly tele-
phone interviews were conducted with parents and
adolescents to obtain information about their daily
activities. Using a cued-recall approach, during each
phone call youth reported on the types of activities
they were involved in outside of school hours, the
individuals who were involved in the activities,
and how long each activity lasted. We used data on
time spent with peers and parents that were col-
lected during the first year of the study to predict
changes in youth’s gender role orientations.
Measures
Gendered personality qualities (expressivity and
instrumentality) were measured with the Antill
Trait Questionnaire (Antill, Russell, Goodnow, &
Cotton, 1993). Using a 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost
always) scale youth indicated how well six femi-
nine-typed (e.g., gentle, patient) and masculine-
typed (e.g., athletic, independent) traits described
them. Items were averaged to create ratings of
expressivity and instrumentality. Cronbach’s alphas
averaged .60 for instrumentality and .74 for expres-
sivity.
Gendered activity interests were assessed using a
measure developed by McHale et al. (2009). During
the first year of the study, parents rated their inter-
est in 35 activities and youth rated their interest in
these same activities during all 3 years of the study
using a 1 (not at all interested) to 4 (very interested)
scale. As in prior work (McHale et al., 2009)
because the gendered natured of activities depend
on place and time, we classified activities as mascu-

line or feminine based on …
Take it Like a Man: Gender-Threatened Men’s Experience of
Gender Role
Discrepancy, Emotion Activation, and Pain Tolerance
Danielle S. Berke, Dennis E. Reidy, Joshua D. Miller, and Amos
Zeichner
University of Georgia
Theory suggests that men respond to situations in which their
gender status is threatened with emotions
and behaviors meant to reaffirm manhood. However, the extent
to which threats to masculine status
impact gender role discrepancy (perceived failure to conform to
socially prescribed masculine gender
role norms) has yet to be demonstrated empirically. Nor has
research established whether gender role
discrepancy is itself predictive of engagement in gender-
stereotyped behavior following threats to gender
status. In the present study, we assessed the effect of threats to
masculinity on gender role discrepancy
and a unique gender-shaped phenomenon, pain tolerance. Two-
hundred twelve undergraduate men were
randomly assigned to receive feedback that was either
threatening to masculine identity or nonthreat-
ening. Over the course of the study, participants also completed
measures of gender role discrepancy,
emotion activation, and objectively measured pain tolerance.
Results indicated that gender threat
predicted increased self-perceived gender role discrepancy and
elicited aggression, but not anxiety-
related cognitions in men. Moreover, gender-threatened men
evinced higher pain tolerance than their

nonthreatened counterparts. Collectively, these findings provide
compelling support for the theory that
engagement in stereotyped masculine behavior may serve a
socially expressive function intended to quell
negative affect and realign men with the status of “manhood.”
Keywords: gender role discrepancy, masculinity, pain tolerance
Across the multidisciplinary and methodologically diverse psy-
chology of men and masculinity literature, a view of manhood
as
a potentially perilous and socially constructed status stands as a
key and unifying assumption of the field (e.g., Eisler &
Skidmore,
1987; Kimmel, 2006; Levant, 1996; O’Neil, 2008; Pleck, 1976,
1981, 1995). In its most recent iteration, this theoretical
contention
is articulated in Vandello and Bosson’s (2013) construct of pre-
carious manhood, which comprises three subordinate theoretical
assumptions. First, manhood is an achieved, rather than innate
status. Second, the achievement of manhood is inherently
tempo-
rary and can be easily lost or revoked. Third, the socially con-
structed nature of manhood means that it is primarily predicated
upon public demonstrations of proof (Vandello & Bosson,
2013).
Put simply, masculinity can be understood as “hard won and
easily
lost” (Bosson & Vandello, 2011). Indeed, masculinity in both
industrialized and “preindustrial” societies has been observed
and
described in anthropological research as a “precarious or
artificial
state that boys must win against powerful odds” (Gilmore, 1990,
p.11). Thus, masculinity is thought to produce significant
psycho-

logical challenges for men across cultures. As such, when any
man
encounters actual or perceived challenges to masculine status,
he
may be vulnerable to invoking stereotypical masculine
behaviors
to maintain a sense of power and control (Moore & Stuart,
2005;
Vandello & Bosson, 2013).
Several laboratory-based, experimental studies provide empiri-
cal support for these assumptions, highlighting aggression in
par-
ticular as a social behavior through which men may seek to
reassert manhood (e.g.,Vandello, Bosson, Cohen, Burnaford, &
Weaver, 2008; Weaver, Vandello, Bosson, & Burnaford, 2010).
Specifically, laboratory research demonstrates that threats to
mas-
culinity (i.e., stimuli designed to challenge the status conferred
to
men by traditional gender roles) elicit aggression-related cogni-
tions and actions in men (Weaver et al., 2010) and that men use
situational cues to justify their aggressive behavior (for a
review
see Vandello & Bosson, 2013). Furthermore, in a series of
exper-
iments, Bosson and colleagues not only demonstrated that chal-
lenges to men’s gender status elicited displays of physical
aggres-
sion, they were also able to establish that a public display of
aggressive readiness reduced men’s anxiety-related cognitions
in
the wake of a gender threat (Bosson, Vandello, Burnaford,
Weaver, & Arzu Wasti, 2009). Taken together, research on pre-
carious manhood has filled important gaps in the literature by
providing empirical evidence that masculine stereotyped

behavior
may be potentiated by the desire to mitigate negative affect pro-
duced by gender threat.
Despite laudable advances made by the precarious manhood
paradigm in forwarding understanding of fundamental emotional
and behavioral components of masculinity, masculine-specific
cognitive processes have yet to be fully incorporated into this
empirical literature. In other words, how do men process
gender-
salient events and derive evaluations about their own
masculinity?
Although gender threat is assumed to adversely affect how men
evaluate their manhood, this supposition has not been directly
assessed, nor has research established whether the evaluation of
oneself as insufficiently masculine is itself predictive of
engage-
This article was published Online First February 15, 2016.
Danielle S. Berke, Dennis E. Reidy, Joshua D. Miller, and Amos
Zeichner, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Danielle
S. Berke, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia,
Athens, GA
30602-3013. E-mail: [email protected]
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Psychology of Men & Masculinity © 2016 American
Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 18, No. 1, 62– 69 1524-9220/17/$12.00
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000036
62
mailto:[email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000036
ment in gender-stereotyped behavior in direct response to
threats
to gender status.
The assumption that self-evaluative cognitive processes
underlie
gender-threatened men’s engagement in gender-stereotyped be-
havior is compatible with longstanding sociocognitive theory
re-
garding the effect of incompatible beliefs about the self on emo-
tional distress. For example, self-discrepancy theory (Higgins,
Klein, Strauman, 1985) posits that incompatibilities arising be-
tween the actual self (i.e., the representation of attributes that
individuals or perceivers believe an individual possesses) and
the
ought self, (i.e., the representation of attributes that one
believes
they should possess) result in either the absence of positive out-
comes or the presence of negative outcomes, generating either
depression or anxiety/agitation respectively. In terms of
incompat-
ibilities in masculine self-perception, evidence suggests that

boys
learn to expect that violations of masculine norms result in
nega-
tive social consequences (Fuchs & Thelen, 1988; Zeman & Gar-
ber, 1996) including social condemnation and negative
psycholog-
ical consequences (Rummell & Levant, 2014). Therefore,
gender
role discrepancy (perceived failure to conform to socially pre-
scribed masculine gender role norms) is theorized to precipitate
anxious or agitated affect and attendant behavior as a function
of
disruptive inconsistencies in self-perception. As such, empirical
validation of this theory necessitates direct measurement of
gender
role discrepancy in the context of gender threat.
A further avenue for extending the validity of the precarious
manhood construct relates to the types of stereotyped-behaviors
to
which it has been empirically linked. The laboratory
examinations
reviewed above have exclusively utilized aggression analogues
to
model the impact of gender-threatening feedback on men’s
behav-
ior. However, threats to masculinity are reasonably expected to
increase risk for engagement in a broader array of masculine
stereotyped behavior. Indeed, dominant cultural repertoires of
masculinity include not only behavior with deleterious interper-
sonal consequences (e.g., aggression) but also choices that
impact
on men’s intrapersonal experience of pain and suffering.
Regarding pain in particular, shared cultural beliefs about pain
are posited to both reflect and maintain dominant masculinity

ideologies (Bernardes, Keogh, & Lima, 2008). For example,
cross-
cultural research analyzing gendered beliefs on appropriate pain
behavior indicates that patriarchal cultures including Euro
Amer-
ican, Japanese, and Indian samples, share the belief that overt
pain
expressions are more appropriate in women than men (Hobara,
2005; Nayak, Shiflett, Eshun, & Levine, 2000). Moreover, re-
search on gender role expectations indicates that men believe
the
typical man is more tolerant to pain than the typical woman,
which
may account, in part, for the finding that men are less willing to
express pain than women (McCaffery & Ferrell, 1992; Robinson
et
al., 2001). Similarly, qualitative studies investigating dominant
discourses of masculinity among athletes have documented
com-
mon themes pertaining to pain. Specifically, willingness to
persist
in play despite pain warning signs or injury is represented as
the
ultimate expression of masculinity (Howe, 2001; White, Young,
&
McTeer, 1995). However, the situationally specific conditions
under which men may be more or less likely to endure pain have
yet to be clearly elucidated, particularly as they relate to the
experience of masculine threat and gender role discrepancy. As
such, the inclusion of pain tolerance adds to the multimethod
assessment of men’s response to gender-threatening contexts.
Purpose and Hypotheses
The purpose of the current study was to build on the work of
Vandello and Bosson (2013) by assessing the effect of gender-

threatening feedback on men’s self-perceived gender role
discrep-
ancy. Moreover, we aimed to elucidate the impact of dynamic
changes in masculine self-perception on affective arousal and
the
enactment of a heretofore untested stereotyped masculine
behavior
within the literature, the endurance of painful stimuli. Direct
assessment of gender role discrepancy in the context of gender-
threatening and gender-stereotyped contexts allows for
empirical
validation of a core theoretical assumption regarding precarious
manhood, namely that masculinity can be understood as a rela-
tional, contextual, and dynamic process of ongoing
(re)construc-
tion. To this end, several hypotheses were put forth:
1. It was expected that the current study would replicate the
work of Bosson and colleagues (2009) by demonstrating
that men exposed to gender-threatening feedback would
evince higher levels of aggression and anxiety-related
cognitions than those receiving nonthreatening feedback.
2. Given the theoretical proposition that men engage in
stereotyped masculine behavior to regain masculine sta-
tus (Vandello & Bosson, 2013), it was hypothesized that
men exposed to gender-threatening feedback would en-
dure higher levels of pain than their nonthreatened coun-
terparts.
3. Consistent with self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, Klein,
& Strauman, 1985), exposure to gender-threatening feed-
back was also hypothesized to predict changes in mas-
culine self-perception, such that men would experience
heightened levels of gender role discrepancy following
this feedback.

4. State changes in gender role discrepancy from baseline to
post gender-salient feedback were hypothesized to pre-
dict emotion activation and pain tolerance.
5. Lastly, we predicted that endurance of painful stimuli
would function to reaffirm masculine status and therefore
be associated with a subsequent decrease in gender role
discrepancy.
Method
Participants
A sample of 246 men was recruited from the psychology de-
partment’s research participant pool at a large university in the
Southeastern United States for a study titled “Gender
Knowledge,
Cognitive Processing, and Pain Tolerance.” Participants were
in-
formed that the study comprised an online questionnaire session
and a laboratory session that would take place on two separate
occasions. Of those men who responded to the advertisement by
completing the online questionnaire, more than 87% (n � 215)
attended the laboratory session. Three of these men, who did
not
identify as exclusively heterosexual (i.e., gay, queer, bisexual,
or
transgender) on the demographics questionnaire, were excluded
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63GENDER THREAT, EMOTION ACTIVATION, AND PAIN
from analyses given our goal to investigate behavior in
heterosex-
ual men. The final analytic sample comprised 212 men and was
demographically representative of the university community
from
which it was derived. The mean age of the sample was 19.48
(SD � 1.49), 66.4% Caucasian, 18.3% Asian, 7.1% African
Amer-
ican/Black, 1.8% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 5.7%
Hispan-
ic/Latino, and 1.3% indicating “other” for ethnic background.
The
majority of participants, 98.6%, indicated that they were single,
whereas only 1.4% were in a committed relationship/long-term
partnership. All participants provided IRB-approved informed
consent and received partial academic credit for their
participation.
Measures
Demographic Questionnaire. Participants were adminis-
trated a demographic questionnaire with questions pertaining to
age, ethnicity, relationship status, and sexual orientation. Age
was
indicated by filling in a blank, whereas ethnicity was reported
by
selecting among the following categories, Hispanic or Latino,

American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African
Amer-
ican, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White, or
Other.
Similarly, relationship status and sexual orientation were
reported
by selecting among a series of representative categories.
Masculine gender role discrepancy (Reidy, Berke, Gentile,
& Zeichner, 2014). The Masculine Gender Role Discrepancy
Stress scale (MGRDS) was used to assess men’s experience of
gender role discrepancy. The MGRDS contains five questions
pertaining to the experience of (a) perceived gender role
discrep-
ancy (e.g., “I am less masculine than the average guy,” “Most
women I know would say that I’m not as masculine as my
friends”) and five questions pertaining to the experience of (b)
distress stemming from the discrepancy (e.g., “I wish I was
more
manly,” “I worry that women find me less attractive because
I’m
not as macho as other guys”). The MGRDS has a two-factor
structure that includes Gender Role Discrepancy and
Discrepancy
Stress, both of which demonstrate strong internal consistency
(Reidy et al., 2014). For the purposes of the current study, only
the
Gender Role Discrepancy subscale was used as we were
interested
in the unique effects that gender role discrepancy may have on
pain tolerance and anxiety and aggression-related cognition,
inde-
pendent of the stress that men explicitly identify as driven by
such
discrepancy. The Gender Role Discrepancy subscale has been
shown to relate to harmful externalizing behavior for men in

previous research. For example, Reidy and colleagues demon-
strated that boys endorsing higher levels of perceived gender
role
discrepancy were more likely to endorse some history of sexual
teen dating violence (Reidy, Smith-Darden, Cortina, Kernsmith,
&
Kernsmith, 2015). In the current sample, Cronbach’s alpha for
the
5-item discrepancy scale was .95.
Computerized gender knowledge test. The “gender knowl-
edge test” was created as a 32-item adaptation from Rudman
and
Fairchild (2004) and utilized as a cover for providing
participants
bogus gender feedback. Participants were informed that the
mea-
sure assesses “basic gender knowledge,” and included 16
multiple-
choice items assessing knowledge about stereotypically
masculine
topics (sports, auto mechanics, and home repair) and 16 items
measuring knowledge about stereotypically feminine topics
(cook-
ing, childcare, and fashion). In actuality, participants were pro-
vided bogus feedback regarding their scores on this test and the
test items themselves were not scored. Items ranged from
moder-
ately difficult to very difficult to maximize the believability of
false feedback. For example, one masculine item required
identi-
fying the first people to use flamethrowers in battle (Turks or
Greeks) whereas a feminine test required identifying the first
company to invent hair coloring (L’Oreal or Clairol).

Word completion task. This task was developed as an ad-
aptation of methodology utilized in previous laboratory exam-
inations of the effects of gender threat (Bosson et al., 2009) on
emotion activation. A 27-item questionnaire described to par-
ticipants as a “word completion task” was used to measure the
cognitive accessibility of words related to anxiety and aggres-
sion. Of the 20 word fragments, it was possible to complete
seven with either aggression-related words or aggression-
unrelated words: KI __ __ (kill), __ IGHT (fight), BLO__ __
(blood), B __ T __LE (battle), __ __ RDER (murder), __ UNCH
(punch), STA __ (stab). The total number of aggressive word
completions served as a measure of activation of aggression-
relevant cognitive-affective networks. Additionally, it was pos-
sible to complete seven words with either anxiety-related words
or anxiety-unrelated words: THREA__ (threat), STRE__ __
(stress), __ __SET (upset), __OTHER (bother), SHA__ E
(shame), __EAK (weak), and LO__ER (loser). The total num-
ber of anxiety word completions served as a measure of acti-
vation of anxiety-relevant cognitive-affective networks. The
remaining 13 word stems were designed to be completed to
form neutral words (e.g., account, engine, picture). These filler
items were included to minimize the potential for detection of
the word completion task as a measure of participant affective
arousal. Past research has demonstrated that this type of word
completion task is a valid measure of aggressive and anxiety-
related cognitions. For example, this methodology has been
utilized to assess the impact of violent media on access to
aggressive cognitions (Anderson et al., 2003, 2004; Carnagey &
Anderson, 2005) and access to anxiety cognitions in the face of
gender threat (Vandello et al., 2008).
Pain tolerance. To assess pain tolerance in response to pres-
sure, a Wagner Instruments (Greenwich, CT) FDIX 50
algometer
1 cm2 rubber tip probe was applied to the supinator muscle on
the

participants’ nondominant upper arm at increasing pressure
until it
reached a subjective level of pain that the participant did not
want
to increase further. In the current study, pressure level was re-
corded as Lbf (poundforce). This procedure was repeated three
times (Ms 1–3: 22.1, 21.0, and 21.2, respectively; SDs � 9.3,
9.2,
and 9.2, respectively). An algometer composite score was used
comprising the average of three values. Cronbach’s alpha for
the
composite of the three algometer readings was .95.
Procedure
In an initial questionnaire session, participants were provided
an
informational letter allowing them to provide informed consent
following which a questionnaire battery was completed
including
the demographic questionnaire and a baseline measure on
gender
role discrepancy (T1). A second, experimental phase was sepa-
rated by one week to minimize participant fatigue effects and to
mitigate any priming cues associated with questionnaire
content.
For the experimental session, participants presented to a small
classroom and were randomly assigned to one of the two experi-
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64 BERKE, REIDY, MILLER, AND ZEICHNER
mental conditions described below (Threat vs. Control). Partici-
pants were oriented to the computerized “Gender Knowledge
Test,” and left to complete it in private. Following completion
of
the test, computer generated bogus feedback about their perfor-
mance was provided. Men assigned to the threat condition
received
gender discrepant feedback about their percentile rank
compared
with other men (i.e., 27th percentile), whereas men assigned to
the
control condition received gender congruent feedback about
their
percentile score (i.e., 73rd percentile). Additionally, all men
were
presented with a visual scale anchored with “feminine gender
identity” and “masculine gender identity” at each end. An arrow
pointing toward the feminine end was used to indicate the
“average
woman’s score” and an arrow toward the male end indicated the
“average man’s score.” For the men assigned to the threat
condi-
tion, an arrow labeled “your score” appeared near the average
woman’s score, while the “your score” arrow presented to men
in
the control condition appeared near the average man’s score.
Next, participants were administered the measure of gender role

discrepancy a second time (T2). Men were instructed verbally
and
in the written directions to respond based on their feelings and
beliefs “at this moment.” Participants were then asked to
complete
“a measure of cognitive processing” and presented with the
com-
puterized word-completion task. After the word-completion
task,
participants’ pain tolerance was assessed as described above.
Fol-
lowing the third pain tolerance trial, participants were presented
with a third administration of the gender role discrepancy
measure
(T3) with state-salient instructions (i.e., “answer based on how
you
feel at this moment”) before they were assigned class credit,
thanked, and debriefed. The debriefing procedure included
discus-
sion of the IRB-approved deception component of the study.
Specifically, participants were informed that the gender
knowledge
feedback provided by the experimenter was bogus, rather than a
reflection of their actual gender knowledge. To guard against
unlikely, yet possible, residual unpleasant effects attributable to
participation in the experiment, all participants were provided
the
opportunity to discuss any concerns with the experimenter, the
research supervisor, and given information regarding locally ac-
cessible mental health resources.
Manipulation Check
The validity of the masculine threat manipulation was assessed
in a brief interview that included questions about the feedback
provided. Participants were asked to recall whether their score

on
the gender knowledge was more consistent with female gender
identity or male gender identity, and whether they remembered
the
percentile score they earned. No participant indicated believing
that the feedback was bogus. All participants correctly recalled
the
gender feedback provided and approximate percentile score
“earned.”
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Random group assignment was expected to produce, on aver-
age, an equal distribution of scores on pertinent demographic
and
predictor variables across the two experimental groups. To
confirm
this assumption, a series of one-way analyses of variance were
performed with age, ethnicity, relationship status, and
participant’s
baseline gender role discrepancy as the dependent variables.
These
analyses revealed no significant group differences. To
determine
the effect of multicollinearity among the multiple
administrations
of the gender role discrepancy measure, a regression analysis
specifying pain tolerance as the dependent variable was
performed
to estimate variance inflation factors (VIF) for each predictor
variable (i.e., the degree to which the variance of the estimated
regression coefficient is “inflated” by the existence of
correlation

among the predictor variables in the model). A VIF of 1
indicates
no correlation among predictor variables, and hence no inflation
in
regression coefficient estimates. VIFs exceeding 4 warrant
further
investigation (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003), whereas
VIFs
exceeding 10 are signs of multicollinearity at a level requiring
correction. In the current sample, the variance-inflation factors
of
T1, Baseline Discrepancy (VIF � 2.29), T2 (VIF � 3.07), and
T3
(VIF � 2.19) were all below suggested cutoffs.
Principal Analyses
A 5-phase analytic plan was specified to systematically model
hypothesized interrelations among gender threat, self-perceived
gender role discrepancy, emotion activation, and pain tolerance.
First, Pearson product–moment correlations were computed be-
tween aggression, anxiety (as measured by the total number of
aggression and anxiety word completions respectively) and
exper-
imental condition to test hypothesis 1, in which we predicted
that
men exposed to gender-threatening feedback would evince
higher
levels of aggression and anxiety-related cognitions than those
receiving nonthreatening feedback. Results indicated that
experi-
mental condition was significantly correlated with total number
of
ambiguous word stems completed in aggressive, r � .23, p �
.01 but
not anxiety-related terms, r � �.03, p � .63, meaning that

exposure
to gender-threatening feedback activated only aggression-
specific
cognitive affective networks. Second, consistent with
hypothesis 2
(i.e., men exposed to gender-threatening feedback would endure
higher levels of pain than their nonthreatened counterparts) and
our stated goal of adding to the multimethod assessment of the
impact of gender threat on men’s behavior, a correlation was
computed between pain tolerance and experimental condition.
Results revealed that experimental condition was significantly
and
positively associated with pain tolerance, r � .29, p � .01,
indicating that gender-threatened men endured significantly
more
painful pressure than their nonthreatened counterparts. Pearson
product–moment correlations for all pertinent study variables
(i.e.,
experimental condition, pain tolerance, gender role discrepancy
at
all three time points, and emotion activation: anxiety and
aggres-
sion) are provided in Table 1.
Third, to test our hypothesis that men would experience
heightened
levels of gender role discrepancy following gender-threatening
feed-
back, we regressed T2 gender role discrepancy scores on
experimen-
tal condition, controlling for baseline gender role discrepancy
scores.
Results of the full model proved to be significant, F(2, 210) �
142.66;
p � .01; R2 � .58. Additionally, the condition term accounted
for

significant variance in T2 gender discrepancy scores in the
model � �
0.12; p � .01, indicating that receipt of gender-threatening
feedback
significantly predicted men’s self-perceptions of gender role
discrep-
ancy following gender feedback, independent of their
perceptions at
baseline.
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65GENDER THREAT, EMOTION ACTIVATION, AND PAIN
Fourth, we hypothesized that state changes in masculine self-
perception would predict emotion activation and pain tolerance.
As
such, three hierarchical regression models were constructed
spec-
ifying aggression, anxiety, and pain tolerance as the pertinent
dependent variables of interest. In each model, baseline gender
role discrepancy was entered as a control in the first step and
T2
gender role discrepancy was entered as the independent variable
of

interest. When emotion activation variables (i.e., anxiety;
aggres-
sion) were considered as the dependent variables, neither the
full
model for anxiety, F(2, 210) � 0.20; p � .82; R2 � .00, nor that
for aggression, F(2, 210) � 0.23; p � .10; R2 � .02, reached
significance. In other words, when controlling for baseline dis-
crepancy scores, T2 gender role discrepancy was not a
significant
predictor of emotion-activation. Although a trend emerged for
the
full model predicting pain tolerance, F(2, 210) � 2.79; p � .06;
R2 � .03, results revealed that this effect was driven by
baseline
rather than T2 gender role discrepancy scores. Regression
coeffi-
cients for each step of hypothesis 4 analyses are presented
in Table 2.
In the final phase of our analysis, we tested hypothesis 5 (i.e.,
that endurance of painful stimuli would be associated with a
subsequent decrease in gender role discrepancy), by regressing
T3
gender role discrepancy on …
Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2018;9(2):840–847
doi: 10.15452/CEJNM.2018.09.0013
© 2018 Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 840

ORIGINAL PAPER
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A GENDER EQUALITY COURSE
IN CHANGING
UNDERGRADUATE MIDWIFERY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARDS DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE AND GENDER ROLES
Emel Bahadir Yilmaz
Department of Midwifery, Health Sciences Faculty, Giresun
University, Piraziz, Giresun, Turkey
Received September 18, 2017; Accepted March 17, 2018.
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the
terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a
gender equality course in changing undergraduate midwifery
students’ attitudes towards domestic violence and gender roles.
Design: A one-group before-after quasi-experimental design
was used. Methods: First-year undergraduate midwifery
students (n = 64) were pre- tested and post- tested for their
attitude to
domestic violence and gender roles using “The Attitudes

Towards Domestic Violence Scale”, and “The Gender Roles
Attitudes Scale”. Data were collected from a health science
faculty in Giresun, Turkey. The pre- and post-test results were
compared using a paired samples t-test. Results: While the mean
score of the attitudes towards domestic violence was
55.23 ± 5.84 before the gender equality course, it increased to
57.71 ± 5.07 after the course. The increase in scores was
statistically significant (p < 0.001). For attitudes to gender
roles, the mean total score increased from 154.65 ± 14.16 to
164.72 ± 13.65 after the course (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The
gender equality course helped students develop more positive
attitudes towards domestic violence and gender roles. We
achieved the aim of the study. We recommend that gender
equality
courses be integrated into the midwifery curriculum.
Keywords: domestic violence, gender equality, gender roles,
midwifery students.
Introduction
The pregnancy and postpartum period are associated
both with the initiation of violence within
a relationship, or with an increase in the severity or

frequency of domestic violence (DV) (Marchant et
al., 2001). However, these periods provide many
potential opportunities for midwives to identify and
help women experiencing DV (Bacchus et al., 2004;
Stenson, Sidenvall, Heimer, 2005; McLachlan et al.,
2011). Therefore, midwives are crucial in identifying
affected women, in providing appropriate care and
support (Hindin, 2006; Lauti, Miller, 2008).
Sensitivity to DV should also be developed in all
midwives, and they should be provided with adequate
knowledge and skills (Prime Ministry Directorate
General on the Status of Women, 2008a).
DV has negative effects on sexual and reproductive
health, as well as on the physical and mental health
of women. Some of the effects related to sexual and
reproductive health include gynaecological disorders,
Corresponding author: Emel Bahadir Yilmaz, Department of

Midwifery, Health Sciences Faculty, Giresun University,
Erenler
Street and No: 25, Giresun, Turkey; e-mail:
[email protected]
trauma, unintended and unwanted pregnancy,
abortion, HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections, maternal mortality, miscarriage, stillbirth,
and babies born with low birth weight (World Health
Organization, 2012; International Confederation
of Midwives, 2014). Midwives also play a crucial
role in identifying and managing DV due to women’s
frequent contact with them. However, they have
difficulties in recognising DV because of a limited
knowledge of the most common signs and symptoms
of violence, lack of training, education, and
confidence, time constraints, safety issues, staff
shortages, cultural taboos, unwillingness of victims to
disclose abuse, lack of privacy for screening, and
midwives’ personal experiences of DV (Mezey et al.,

2003; McCosker-Howard et al., 2005; Lazenbatt,
Taylor, Cree, 2009; Finnbogadóttir, Dykes, 2012;
Mauri et al., 2015; Pitter, 2016).
A number of studies have been conducted on
undergraduate students receiving education in the
health field. Kaynar-Tunçel, Dündar, Peşken (2007)
pointed out that while a significant number of nursing
and midwifery students had positive attitudes, as
many as half were undecided on the appropriateness
of questioning women about whether they were being
Bahadir Yilmaz E.
Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2018;9(2):840–847
© 2018 Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 841
exposed to violence. According to Kaplan et al.
(2014) and Tufan-Kocak, Türkkan, Seren (2014), the
attitudes of nursing students towards DV were
negative, and they had adopted traditional gender

roles. According to some studies, nursing and
midwifery students also lacked confidence
in recognizing and responding to abuse (Bradbury-
Jones, Broadhurst, 2015), were ill-prepared to deal
with domestic violence in clinical practice (Beccaria
et al., 2013), and had not received sufficient training,
practical skills, and classroom knowledge to
effectively manage abuse against women (Majumdar,
2004).
Some studies have indicated that attitudes to gender
roles of healthcare students are in line with traditional
views, with adverse effects on attitudes towards DV
(Kanbay et al., 2012; Kaplan et al., 2014;
Karabulutlu, 2015). Ben Natan et al. (2016) found
that normative beliefs, subjective norms, and
behavioural beliefs affected nursing students’
inclinations to screen women for DV (24). Coleman
and Stith’s (1997) study measured nursing students’

attitudes towards victims of DV. They found that
students with more egalitarian beliefs regarding
gender roles were more sympathetic to victims
of abuse than those with more traditional attitudes to
gender roles.
There is no evidence regarding the effectiveness
of midwifery students’ training in attitudes towards
gender roles and DV. However, there is some
evidence regarding the effectiveness of midwives’
training in DV. Jayatilleke et al. (2015) conducted
a training program for public health midwives.
The training program significantly improved
midwives’ practices, perceived responsibility, and
self-confidence in identifying and assisting DV
sufferers. Berman, Barlow, Koziol-McLain (2005)
interviewed midwives who had participated in the
Family violence prevention education programme in
the Auckland region, 2002. Most spoke of their

increased motivation and emphasized the importance
of knowledge in encouraging changes in attitudes.
Midwives who have positive attitudes towards DV
report greater understanding of DV, recognize signs
of DV, ask women what would be helpful for them,
and support those who have been abused (Protheroe,
Green, Spiby, 2004; Baird et al., 2017). Thus,
training in DV is very important, and is associated
with gender roles, since midwives with egalitarian
attitudes towards gender roles are more likely to have
positive attitudes towards DV.
Undergraduate education is also a critical time for
developing attitudes towards DV and attitudes to
gender roles necessary to identify, prevent, and
manage DV, and to create support for victims
of violence (Beccaria et al., 2013). Hence, this study
evaluated the effectiveness of a gender equality
course on the attitudes of undergraduate midwifery

students towards DV and gender roles. The research
question was as follows: What is the impact
of a gender equality course on the attitudes
of undergraduate midwifery students towards DV and
gender roles?
Aim
The aim of this study was to evaluate the
effectiveness of a gender equality course in changing
the attitudes of undergraduate midwifery students
towards DV and gender roles. Objectives:
1. To evaluate the effectiveness of a gender
equality course in changing attitudes of
undergraduate midwifery students towards DV.
2. To evaluate the effectiveness of a gender
equality course in changing the attitudes of
undergraduate midwifery students towards
gender roles.
Methods
Design

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