Abstract Book of the 8th International Academic Conference on Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2025
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Comparison between the Pressure of Traditional Gender Roles among Middle-Grade and Higher- Grade Elementary School Students
Prof. Te-Sheng Chang, Chong-Shiann Hsu, Ching-Yao Wang
ABSTRACT:
This study aimed to develop a scale to measure traditional gender role pressure among middle- grade and higher-grade elementary school students and to examine whether students perceive gender role pressure differently based on gender and grade level. Referencing the works of Bos et al. (2012) and Miller et al. (2009), the study created the “Elementary School Students’ Gender Role Pressure Scale”, which consists of two subscales: feminine role pressure and masculine role pressure. Each subscale includes three domains—behavior, appearance, and temperament—each represented by three descriptive statements. For each statement, participants were asked to consider whether they worried about their parents being unhappy or about being teased by peers when exhibiting that role. The study was conducted in six schools in eastern Taiwan, with participants from grades three to six. Due to a few participants missing responses to some items, the sample size for statistical analysis ranged from 520 to 530. First, confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the “Elementary School Students’ Gender Role Pressure Scale” demonstrated good construct validity and composite reliability. Second, boys expressed lower levels of concern about disapproval from parents or peers when displaying feminine traits, while girls showed lower levels of concern when displaying masculine traits. Third, participants reported feeling more pressure from peers than from parents when they deviated from traditional gender role stereotypes, with boys experiencing higher levels of peer- induced traditional gender role pressure compared to girls. Finally, middle-grade participants perceived higher levels of traditional gender role pressure from parents than their upper-grade counterparts.
Keywords: gender education, feminine traits, masculine traits, parents, peers