Masculine Norms, Peer Pressure, Alcohol and Adolescents

The substance most commonly consumed by adolescents is alcohol. Among adolescents it is, generally speaking, boys who use higher rates of alcohol compared to girls. Interestingly, theory and research suggest that sex alone does not sufficiently explain why boys tend to drink more than girls and that masculine norms might provide better explanations.

Masculine norms are shaped at an early age and can have an impact on interactions with others. One approach to operationalise masculine norms is the Conformity to Masculine Norms Index which includes the drive for multiple sexual partners, controlling and restricting expression of emotions, the drive to win at all cost, striving to appear heterosexual, and engaging in risky behaviour. Hence, several theoretical models suggest that heavy drinking is seen as an expression of masculinity. In fact, studies among older populations, i.e., college students find a strong relationship between binge drinking and emotional control, risk-taking, and being a playboy.

Among adolescents, peer influence is strongly associated with alcohol use. Becoming a member of a peer group becomes a crucial point in many adolescents' lives which again comes with the cost to conform to values and behavours set by the peer group. Peer pressure among adolescents is "a robust predictor of alcohol use". This, again, includes adolescent girls who adhere to masculine norms.

Young and colleagues’ (2005) qualitative study among college women suggested that many heavy drinking women did so in order to gain acceptance of their male peers by “drinking like a guy.” However, it is unclear if girls’ drinking behavior is driven by conformity to masculine norms, peer pressure, or both.

In their study carried out among high school students living in the U.S. (124 female, 139 male, mean age 17), Iwamoto and Smiler (2014) found masculine norms to be directly linked to alcohol use and peer pressure. The connection was closer among boys than among girls. For girls, the masculine norms of risk taking and playboy seemed to have effects.

Specifically, boys who reported greater conformity to the heterosexual display, winning, and playboy norms were also reported greater susceptibility to peer pressure, while boys who reported less emotional control were less likely to be influenced by peer pressure. These findings make theoretical sense given that many boys perceive a need to prove their masculinity (Levant, 1996). Displaying one’s heterosexuality (Messner, 1992; Tolman, Spencer, Harmon, Rosen-Reynoso, & Striepe, 2004) and being promiscuous (i.e., playboy; Crawford & Popp, 2003; Smiler, 2012) are norms that reflect how one is perceived by others, and suggest these individuals might be more externally-focused and thus more susceptible to peer pressure. (Ivamoto & Smiler, 2013)

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- Iwamoto, D. K. & Smiler, A. P. (2013). Alcohol Makes You Macho and Helps You Make Friends: The Role of Masculine Norms and Peer Pressure in Adolescent Boys' and Girls' Alcohol Use. Subst Use Misuse, 48(5), link
- photograph by Joseph Szabo via

Empathy trumps prejudice: The longitudinal relation between empathy and anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence

Abstract: Although research has shown the effects of empathy manipulations on prejudice, little is known about the long-term relation between empathy and prejudice development, the direction of effects, and the relative effects of cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. Moreover, research has not examined within-person processes; hence, its practical implications are unclear. In addition, longitudinal research on development of prejudice and empathy in adolescence is still scarce. 

This 3-wave study of adolescents (N = 574) examined a longitudinal, within-person relation between empathy and anti-immigrant attitudes. The "standard" cross-lagged model showed bidirectional effects between empathic concern, perspective taking, and anti-immigrant attitudes. In contrast, the Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model showed that only perspective taking directly predicted within-person changes in anti-immigrant attitudes. Empathic concern predicted within-person changes in anti-immigrant attitudes indirectly, via its effects on perspective taking. No effects of anti-immigrant attitudes on within-person changes in empathy were found. The relations between empathic concern, perspective taking, and anti-immigrant attitudes were significant at the between-person level. In addition, the results showed changes in anti-immigrant attitudes and perspective taking and a change in empathic concern in mid- but not late adolescence. The results provide strong evidence for the effects of perspective taking on development of anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence. They also suggest that the link between empathic concern and adolescents' anti-immigrant attitudes can be explained by indirect, within-person effects and by between-person differences. The findings suggest that programs aimed at reducing anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence should work more closely with youth perspective taking and empathic concern. (Miklikowska, 2018)

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- Miklikowska, M. (2018). Empathy trumps prejudice: The longitudinal relation between empathy and anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 54(4), 703-717.
- photograph by Joseph Szabo via

Movies Aimed at Teenagers and the Non-Existent Older Person

In a content analysis, the portrayal of older people in the sixty most popular teen movies from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s was examined, twenty from each decade. For this purpose, older people were defined as those appearing to be 55 years of age or older (note: a rather large group of very different ages and generations), identified based on the presence of one or more of the following characteristics: appearance of retirement, extensive grey hair, wrinkles, extensive loss of hair or balding, cracking voice, use of an aid (cane or wheelchair), parent of a daughter or son who is middle-aged or older, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Three coding categories were used: young old (55-64), middle old (65-74), old old (75+). Physical characteristics (health status, physical activity, physical portrayal) and personality traits (e.g. forgetful, angry, helpless, lonely, sad, senile) were also coded, so were their portrayals as either consistent or not consistent with positive and negative stereotypes.

While some portrayals were favourable showing older people as active and healthy, mostly, they were marginalised in terms of plot, featured as background characters, and their personalities were based on stereotypes and negative traits. Older people's underrepresentation relative to their actual number in the US-American population was extreme, only 7% of characters in teen movies were old. Almost a third of the movies did not contain any older characters, six of these films were from the 1980s (e.g. Pretty in Pink, Footloose), eight from the 1990s (e.g. Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You), five from the 2000s (e.g. Friday Night lights, Snow Day). In line with these findings, the movies with the highest number of older characters were recent: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire contained seven older characters, The Princess Diaries contained six. Apart from that, no statistically significant differences were found between the decades suggesting that the representation of older characters has remained relatively consistent in teen films over time (at least the time examined).

The primary character role fulfilled by an older character was that of worker (n=27.30%), followed by grandparent (n=18.20%), and boss (n=18.20%). Only 13% of older characters were coded as friends (e.g. Doc from Back to the Future). Grandparents were mainly featured in minor or incidental roles, only two of the 18 grandparents were featured in major roles.

Those who had either major or minor roles were significantly more likely to have teeth (...), to be portrayed as intelligent (...), loving (...), or eccentric (...), and to exhibit the Golden Ager (...), John Wayne Conservative (...), or Perfect Grandparent (...) stereotype. Major and minor characters were significantly more likely than incidental characters to be portrayed in an overall positive manner, while incidental characters were slightly more likely to be portrayed as neutral or negative (...).

The dominant personality trait of older characters (n=32, 35%) found was "angry/grupy/stern", the second-most (n=23) was "friendly" (25%). Men were significantly more often shown with grey hair than women, women - on the other hand - were significantly more likely to be shown as hunched over.

Positive and negative attitudes to older people might crystallise during late childhood and adolescence, a time characterised by young people seeking out "specific forms of media to actively acquire the norms and beliefs of the culture in which they live", by a process of formulating one's identity, and heavy media consumption.

The stereotypes that adolescents today hold toward older people were reflected in older character portrayals in these popular teen films. Given the negative representations of older people that adolescents are exposed to in their teen years, it is no wonder that they express negative attitudes toward older people. After years of exposure to media that negatively depict older adults, adolescents may have been cultivated to stereotype older people. This has the potential to influence the quality of their interactions with older people, and also influence the way they come to view the prospect of getting old.

Since, at least in "nuclear family cultures", children and teenagers have less intergenerational contact with older people than in the past and at the same time the media plays a more crucial role, it is likely that the latter turns into a socialising agent shaping them and the source they get most of their information about older people from. Adolescents with heavy TV consumption might get the idea that older people are vanishing from the population since they are almost non-existent in movies (Magoffin, 2007).

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- Magoffin, D. L. (2007). Stereotyped Seniors: The Portrayal of Older Characters in Teen Movies from 1980-2006. Brigham Young University: Theses and Dissertations, 977, link
- photographs of teenagers by Joseph Szabo via and via

The Family Transmission of Ethnic Prejudice

Generally speaking, research on the intergenerational transmission of ethnic prejudice is rather scarce. According to current socialisation theories, the transmission is a bidirectional process involving both parents and children as active persons influencing the outcomes. Transmission becomes a negotiation process. In the context of values, it was suggested that children do not imitate their parental values but interpret them in innovative ways. During adolescence, asymmetrical constellations of earlier periods are renegotiated and relationships outside the family become more important. Adolescents start considering diverse categories and become quite active in the transmission process (Zagrean et al., 2022).

Studies concerning the transmission of ethnic prejudice have unfortunately focused almost exclusively on childhood, thus leaving the adolescence phase under-investigated (Crocetti et al. 2021). Around the age of seven to eight, children begin to consolidate a preference for their ethnicity and progressively reach an identification with their ethnic ingroup. The research involving parents and pre-school- and school-age children (up to 12 years) showed mixed results. Indeed, some of them found a high degree of similarity between the parents’ and the children’s ethnic prejudice (e.g., Epstein and Komorita 1966; Katz 2003), while others reported only a moderate or low similarity (...). Castelli et al. (2009), in their study involving Italian parents and biological three- to six-year-old children, found that the parents’ explicit and implicit negative attitudes1 towards immigrants predicted those of their children, but only in the case of the mothers.

In their systematic review of research articles (four databases: Ebsco, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science), a study carried out in 2021, Zagrean et al. (2022) addressed the following research questions:

(a) To what extent is there a vertical (between parents and children) and horizontal (between siblings) transmission of ethnic prejudice within the family?
(b) Is the family transmission of ethnic prejudice unidirectional (from parents to children) or bidirectional (between parents and children)?
(c) Which individual and/or relational variables influence the transmission of ethnic prejudice within the family?
(d) Can adolescents’ intergroup contact experiences affect the family influence on adolescents’ ethnic prejudice?

The findings show a moderate bidirectional transmission of ethnic prejudice between parents and adolescents which was influenced by variables such as the adolescents' age, their birth order, their and their parents' gender, the parents' income and the quality of the family relationship (in terms of warmth, closeness, parenting style). The parents' influence and the adolescents' ethnic prejudice were reduced by the adolescents' positive (and frequent) contacts with peers of different ethnicities.

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- Zagrean, I., Barni, D. Russo, C. & Danioni, F. (2022). The Family Transmission of Ethnic Prejudice: A Systematic Review of Research Articles with Adolescents. Social Sciences, 11(6), link
- photograph by Joseph Szabo (1978) via

Recruiters Getting Ageist Guidelines

In a survey, 105 hiring professionals were asked if age discrimination was a problem they encountered. 92 of them (88%) said yes and 87% knew of other hiring managers or recruiters who had not considered a candidate because of their age. 58% said that they had experienced ageist guidelines from their clients or from managers and that they had been instructed to pass on a candidate because of age. When advocating for older job seekers, they often see hiring managers turning these candidates down citing stereotypes such as "culture fit, lack of drive, and outdated skillsets" as reasons. The recruiters reported anecdotally that, at times, they were asked to source "young and pretty" candidates or, in one case, a "blonde and attractive female" (via).

photograph by Joseph Szabo (1975) via

Girl or Woman? Language Matters.

In the late 1970s, Robert Brannon gave 462 college students a story to read which described a female's application for a high-level executive position. In one version, she was referred to as a "girl", in the other as a "woman". Students then had to rate her personality traits.



Results: When the female applicant was called a woman, students described her as more tough, mature, more qualified, more deserving of a higher salary than when she was referred to as a girl.

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- Brannon, R. (1978). The Consequences of Sexist Language. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Meetings, Toronto.
- photograph by Joseph Szabo (1976) via, copyright by owner(s)