Browsing by Subject "Teenage girls -- Psychology"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Early Adolescent Female Gendered Identity Formation Through the Lens of Popularity and "the Perfect Girl"
    (1997) Riofrio, Adrienne Veronica; Milden, Randy; Davis, Douglas A., 1943-
    This study examined the ways that cultural ideals affect girls' views of popularity, ideal girlhood, and how cultural stereotypes inform the development of their identities. Twenty seventh grade girls were asked to fill out three objective measures-- Children's Sex Role Inventory (Boldizar, 1991); the Attitudes Towards Women Scale for Adolescents (Galambos et. al, 1985); and the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982). Participants also completed a projective measure designed to tap into issues of gendered identity formation. Girls were divided into two groups and participated in a magazine session, reading and discussing either mainstream or resistant magazines (ones that are aimed at questioning gender bias). Measures were then administered again. Results suggest that the objective and projective measures were correlated. Projective results suggest that girls in the resistant magazine condition answered questions in more resistant ways than girls in the mainstream condition. Implications for further research and application of ideas proposed here are explored.
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    From Computation to Communication: Adolescent Girls and the Internet
    (1999) Chanlett-Avery, Sadie; Davis, Douglas A., 1943-; Sternberg, Wendy
    This study investigated the implications of Internet technology on adolescent computer usage through an examination of sex differences. Theories of adolescent personality development, a survey of the social science research on gender differences in computer usage and new theory on the psychology of the Internet provide a context for teenagers' present Internet usage. Furthermore, a critique of a study examining adolescent girls and the Internet offers greater insight. A sample of adolescents' Web pages were coded for a number of characteristics and some members of the sample completed a questionnaire regarding their Internet and computer usage. A second sample of middle-school students completed the same questionnaire. Both Web page authors and the comparison group reported high rates of computer usage for educational, communication, and recreational purposes. Girls exhibited overall proficiently in utilizing the Internet and computers and boys' greater interest in computer games presented the largest sex difference.
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    "This is a Photograph of Me": Early Adolescent Girls, Peer Acceptance, and the Search for Self
    (1997) Benjamin, Beth Cooper; Davis, Douglas A., 1943-; Milden, Randy
    Girls encounter significant socio-psychological difficulties during adolescence, as they develop identities against a backdrop of conflictual cultural messages about female identity. The present study investigated the relationship between self-concept and peer relations for a group of girls in seventh grade. Specifically, the study looked at the peer group's ideal of "the popular girl" and girls' individual perceptions of and reactions to it. Subjects completed measures of self concept (PCSC), sex role attributes (CSRI), sex role attitudes (AWSA), and a series of projective questions, and then participated in an intervention, in which a control group read from a mainstream teenage girls' fashion magazine, and an experimental group read from Blue Jean, one of a growing genre of girl-centered, advertising-free magazines for teenage girls. The original measures were then adminstered again. It was predicted that subjects in the experimental condition would demonstrate more confidence and resistance to cultural stereotypes about women than they had exhibited earlier, and that subjects in the experimental condition would show little change. While the intervention produced only a handful of significant effects, the results are suggestive of the potential benefits to adolescent girls of programs designed to support their integrity and creative resistance to damaging cultural messages.