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Emerging Adults and Gender Norms: Everyday Life Experiences, Media Perceptions, Attitudes, and Future Expectations

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Abstract

As media’s (e.g., television, movies, news) presence becomes increasingly prominent in individuals’ everyday lives, it is critical to consider how emerging adult men and women acquire gender norm information. Accordingly, this study explores how emerging adults’ everyday life gender norm experiences and media gender norm perceptions contribute to gender norm attitude formation and future gender norm expectations in family and career. Research has examined gender norm attitudes in relationship to everyday life, media, or future life expectations. Extending past research, this survey (n = 663) concurrently assesses the interrelationships between these constructs, employing social cognitive theory as a theoretical guide to frame hypotheses and interpret findings. Structural equation models (SEMs) illustrated emerging adults’ (M age = 20.32 years) traditional gender norm attitudes were positively correlated with traditional everyday life experiences and negatively correlated with traditional media perceptions. In each SEM, traditional gender norm attitudes positively correlated with traditional family division of labor expectations. Unexpectedly, male traditional gender norm attitudes negatively correlated with traditional career role allocation expectations. Finally, in both SEMs, only traditional everyday life experiences predicted traditional future expectations. Discussion focuses on the interplay between everyday life and media by considering the ways emerging adults may use each realm to shape gender norm attitudes and future expectations.

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Funding

This study was funded by the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Communication Department, Wheaton College, 500 College Avenue, Wheaton, IL, 60187, USA

    Halie Wenhold

  2. Department of Communication and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kristen Harrison

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  1. Halie Wenhold
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conceptualization, development, and data collection. H.W. was responsible for data analysis, interpretation, and writing the manuscript. K.H. provided feedback throughout the analysis, interpretation, and writing process.

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Correspondence to Halie Wenhold.

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Procedures were approved by the University of Michigan Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences IRB and follow its ethical standards.

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All participants provided their informed consent before participating in this study.

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Wenhold, H., Harrison, K. Emerging Adults and Gender Norms: Everyday Life Experiences, Media Perceptions, Attitudes, and Future Expectations. Gend. Issues 38, 420–437 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-020-09270-3

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