Andrés Chamarro Lusar

Gender Stereotypes 2.0

Adolescent girls and boys use online networking sites differently, and girls have a higher risk of being harmed by non-adaptive use. The aim of the study was to assess the extent to which adolescents portray themselves according to gender stereotypes on their Facebook profiles. Participants were 623 Facebook users of both sexes who responded to the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Well-being Index (PWI). In the first step, the adolescents responded to the BSRI with respect to how they view a typical adult in terms of gender stereotypes. In the second step, half of them responded to the BSRI with respect to how they view themselves and the other half responded with respect to their self-presentation on Facebook. The results show that adolescents consider themselves to be less sexually differentiated than a typical adult of their own sex, both in their self-perception and their self-portrayal on Facebook. The study confirms that the psychological well-being of girls decreases considerably with age and that it is associated with a greater degree of masculinity. We conclude that adolescents produce accurate self-representations on their Facebook profiles, and both boys and girls tend to offer a less sexually differentiated self-concept and self-portrayal than of the typical adult, with a slight preference for masculine traits; moreover, masculinity is associated with a greater degree of psychological well-beingChicas y chicos adolescentes hacen un uso diferente de las redes sociales online, y las chicas presentan un mayor riesgo de verse perjudicadas por un uso no adaptativo. El objetivo de este estudio era investigar en que medida los adolescentes se presentan en terminos de estereotipos de genero en sus perfiles de Facebook. Los participantes, 623 usuarios de Facebook de ambos sexos, contestaron el Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) y el Personal Well-being Index (PWI). En la primera fase, respondieron sobre como ven a un adulto tipico en terminos de estereotipos de genero. En la segunda fase, la mitad de ellos contesto el BSRI en relacion a como se ven a si mismos, y la otra mitad como se presentan en Facebook. Los resultados muestran que los adolescentes se consideran mas sexualmente indiferenciados que un adulto tipico de su mismo sexo, tanto en su auto-percepcion como en su presentacion en Facebook. Se confirma que el bienestar psicologico de las chicas baja considerablemente con la edad, y que esta asociado a un mayor grado de masculinidad. Se concluye que los adolescentes producen representaciones verdaderas en sus perfiles de Facebook, y que existe una tendencia hacia una auto-concepcion y auto-presentacion mas sexualmente indiferenciada con una leve preferencia por rasgos masculinos, tanto en chicos como en chicas; ademas, la masculinidad esta asociada a un mayor grado de bienestar psicologico.