Emerging Adults' Social Reality and Mediated Reality Gender Norms: Gender Norm Attitudes and Future Life Expectations

Abstract

Past research has looked at individuals’ gender norm attitudes in relationship to social reality (i.e., everyday life) gender norms, mediated reality (i.e., media) gender norms, or future life expectations. However, no known research has concurrently assessed the complexities and interrelationships between these constructs. Employing cultivation theory’s and social role theory’s theoretical groundwork, this dissertation examined the ways in which emerging adults’ experienced social reality gender norms and perceived mediated reality gender norms are connected to gender norm attitudes and future family and career expectations. Further, this dissertation also assessed the relationship between emerging adults’ reported gender norm attitudes and future family and career expectations. Study 1’s online survey with emerging adults (n = 663) between the ages of 18 and 23 (M age = 20.32 years) quantitatively measured participants’ social reality experiences, mediated reality perceptions, gender norm attitudes, and future family and career expectations. Gendered structural equation models (SEMs) illustrated that for both male and female participants, traditional social reality experiences positively correlated with traditional gender norm attitudes while traditional mediated reality perceptions negatively correlated with traditional gender norm attitudes. While not predicted, SEM found that traditional social reality was positively related to traditional mediated reality and post-hoc regression analyses among all participants and male participants revealed that the two realities work together to predict gender norm attitudes. The exploratory regression model for all participants also found a significant two-way interaction among social reality and perceived representativeness of social reality to predict gender norm attitudes. Moreover, the female SEM illustrated that traditional gender norm attitudes positively correlated with traditional future family and career expectations. The male SEM showed that traditional gender norm attitudes positively correlated with traditional future family expectations and negatively correlated with traditional future career expectations. Lastly, for women, traditional social reality positively correlated with traditional future family expectations, and for men, positively correlated with traditional future family and career expectations in SEM analysis. Study 2’s 20 individual in-depth interviews (M age = 19.05 years) with male and female undergraduate students were analyzed to find that interviewees utilized social reality experiences and mediated reality perceptions to help craft gender norm ideas and future life expectations. Specifically, social reality experiences and mediated reality perceptions were simultaneously discussed and while nontraditional social reality experiences framed nontraditional gender norm ideas, nontraditional mediated reality displays that were perceived as “heavy-handed” were often accompanied by more traditional gender norm ideas via hesitancy to adopt a feminist title. Additionally, while female interviewees expected to manage future household, childcare, and career responsibilities, male interviewees expected to do less. The final chapter of this dissertation collectively discusses the survey and interview findings to consider the ways emerging adults may use everyday life and media to shape gender norm attitudes and future life expectations and the consequences that might arise if these expectations are not met.