Gender Disparities among Adolescents in India: The Role of Gender Ideology
Open Access
- Author:
- Larsen, Ashley Gael
- Graduate Program:
- Sociology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 25, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Nancy Luke, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Nancy Luke, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Valarie King, Committee Member
Jennifer Van Hook, Committee Member
Susan McHale, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Gender ideology
Gender
India
Adolescence
Adolescents - Abstract:
- Gender ideology—individual beliefs about the roles men and women should play in society—is related to several domains of adult life. For example, gender ideology is associated with the career trajectories, life transitions, and romantic relationships of both men and women (Davis & Greenstein, 2009). However, research examining adolescents’ gender ideology is scant. This is concerning because of the importance of adolescence in gender socialization and identity development. During this period in the life course, individuals crystalize their understanding of what it means to be a man or woman and the expectations associated with each. Concurrently, adolescents’ understanding of gender roles increases in saliency as they begin to make life decisions and learn skills that carry on into adulthood (Goldscheider, Bernhardt, & Lappegård, 2015; Tolman, Davis, & Bowman, 2016). Therefore, adolescents’ views on gender roles and expectations are likely meaningfully related to their outcomes. In addition to adolescents’ own gender ideology, parents’ gender ideologies are likely meaningful for adolescent outcomes. Parents often act as role models and confidants for their adolescent children (Grusec & Hastings, 2014). Thus, parents can both demonstrate what being a man or woman entails and encourage or discourage gendered behaviors among their children. Likewise, parents have direct power over adolescents and may enforce strict gender roles through assigning tasks (e.g., chores) or by administering discipline or praise in response to adolescents’ gendered behaviors. Therefore, examinations of the role adolescents’ and parents’ ideologies play in adolescent outcomes—both independently and in combination—are needed. Further limiting our understanding of gender ideology is the lack of research in non-western contexts. It is often implicitly assumed that the spread of gender egalitarianism will have similar consequences worldwide. However, without examining gender relations in diverse contexts, the universality of these dynamics remains unknown. India is an interesting non-western context in which to examine the role of gender ideology for adolescent outcomes. India gained international attention due to documented son preference (Bongaarts & Guilmoto, 2015). Ample research has explored gender disparities among infants and children in India and found that girls, in comparison to boys, were disadvantaged across several domains, including sex ratios at birth, child mortality, and breastfeeding practices (e.g., Barcellos, Helena, Carvalho, & Lleras-Muney, 2014; Bongaarts & Guilmoto, 2015; Guilmoto, 2012). Although much is known about gender differences among young children in this highly gender-stratified context, relatively little is known about the gendered lives of Indian adolescents. Gender ideology is likely related to a diverse set of outcomes; however, I focus on time use and mental health in this dissertation. I formatted this dissertation as three distinct empirical papers, each exploring a new aspect of the relationship between gender ideology and adolescent boys’ and girls’ lives in India. Due to this format, I have listed below short abstracts for each empirical paper. Paper 1: Although an in-depth body of literature explores the gendered lives of children in India, little is known about adolescents. Adolescence is an important life stage, where gender identities and behaviors are formed and strengthened within families. I utilize 24-hour time diary data from South India to examine how boys’ and girls’ engagement in housework varies by parents’ gender ideologies. I find that girls spend much more time in housework than boys, which is expected in the highly gender-stratified Indian context. More importantly, I find that adolescent girls with egalitarian parents do significantly less housework than girls with less egalitarian parents. At first glance, these findings support socialization theory—that what parents think translates into what adolescents do. However, I find that boys do very little housework, regardless of parents’ gender attitudes. I conclude that socialization theory is not gender neutral; parents’ egalitarian gender ideology is related to gender equity through its association with daughters’, but not sons’, housework time. This is consistent with the idea of a stalled gender revolution. Paper 2: Although a rich body of literature finds that father involvement is beneficial for adolescent well-being, limited attention has been paid to fathers’ gender ideology or to fathers in contexts of high son preference. I utilize survey data from South India to examine how multiple dimensions of fathering, including time spent with adolescents, monitoring adolescents’ friendships, and fathers’ gender ideology, independently relate to adolescents’ emotional well-being. I find that fathers’ time is not significantly associated with adolescent mental health. For boys, I find that fathers’ monitoring is associated with fewer depressive symptoms, and fathers’ egalitarian gender ideology is associated with increased subjective well-being, fewer anxiety symptoms, and fewer depressive symptoms. For girls, I find that fathers’ egalitarian gender ideology is associated with fewer anxiety and depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that fathers’ monitoring and gender ideology are important and distinct aspects of fathering that have implications for adolescent well-being. Further, multiple dimensions of fathering in contexts of high son preference meaningfully relate to both boys’ and girls’ well-being. Paper 3: Gender disparities in anxiety and depression begin in adolescence. Theoretically, this is partially due to adolescents’ crystallizing understanding of gendered norms and expectations. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the relationship between gender ideology and adolescent mental health. Further, although these relationships are likely important worldwide, gender ideology may be particularly important in highly gender-stratified contexts, such as India. I use survey data from South India to explore the associations of adolescents’, fathers’, and mothers’ gender ideologies with three indicators of adolescent mental health. I find that egalitarian boys and girls experience fewer anxiety symptoms than their non-egalitarian counterparts. Further, having an egalitarian mother is associated with fewer anxiety symptoms among girls and fewer depressive symptoms among boys and girls when compared to adolescents with non-egalitarian mothers. These findings point to the importance of adolescent and parent gender ideology for the emotional well-being of adolescents.