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Preadolescents' Social Judgments: The Relationship Between Self-Endorsement of Traits and Gender-Related Judgments of Female Peers

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Abstract

The present study investigated therelationship between preadolescents' and earlyadolescents' inferences and judgments of a target girl,their self-endorsement of traditionally feminine andmasculine traits, the gender of the playmates and thegender-typedness of the game. Preadolescents and earlyJewish Israeli adolescents males and females (n = 251)were shown a video film portraying a female targetplaying a feminine, masculine or neutral game witheither boys or girls and then made a variety ofinferences and judgments about the target. The gender ofthe playing partners and the gender-typedness of thegame were found to influence preadolescents'inferences of female targets' traits, roles andoccupations, but not their motivational-emotionaljudgments. Gender differences emerged such that theinferences of boys were more often in accordance withtraditional gender stereotypes. Selfendorsement oftraits did not seem to influence preadolescents'judgments, except in those of the cross-gender children.The results are discussed within the framework of genderschema theories.

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Lobel, T.E., Gewirtz, J., Pras, R. et al. Preadolescents' Social Judgments: The Relationship Between Self-Endorsement of Traits and Gender-Related Judgments of Female Peers. Sex Roles 40, 483–498 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018827827921

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