Sheryl Carmelin A and Kanchana M
Women’s Christian College, Chennai
Pages:74-79
It is a fact well-known that attitudes regarding gender roles are developed early in life
(Halim et al., 2016). The plethora of crimes committed against women can be traced back
to attitudes that have been developed towards them (Kamdar et al., 2017). Research
has established a link between self-esteem and gender stereotypes – especially when
paternal participation is taken into account (Deutsch et al., 2001). The objective of the
present study is to explore gender stereotypes and attitudes towards females in teenage
boys and to study whether self-esteem is related to such attitudes, in the Indian context.
The sample comprises of 100 high-school boys each from co-education and all-boys’
schools. The following tools have been used: Gender Stereotypes and Attitudes Towards
Females Questionnaire (GSAFQ) by Kanchana (2016) and Self Esteem Scale, by
Rosenberg (1965). 7 dimensions of GSAFQ, and self-esteem were compared across
the two groups with the null hypothesis being proposed. Independent samples t-tests
and Pearson product moment correlation were used to analyse the data as needed.
The findings of this study which indicate a significant positive correlation between selfesteem and gender attitudes could help in designing intervention programs among
boys to promote healthy attitudes towards women and girls, thereby reducing crimes
against them.
Keywords: gender stereotypes, attitudes towards females, self-esteem, high-school
boys, Chenna