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 that of the typical adult, with a slight preference for masculine traits; moreover, masculinity is associated with a greaterdegree of psychological well-being.
Chicas 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 qué medida los adolescentes se presentan en términos de estereotipos de género 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 cómo ven a un adulto típico en términos de estereotipos de género. En la segunda fase, la mitad de ellos contestó el BSRI en relación a cómo se ven a sí mismos, y la otra mitad cómo se presentan en Facebook. Los resultados muestran que los adolescentes se consideran más sexualmente indiferenciados que un adulto típico de su mismo sexo, tanto en su auto-percepción como en su presentación en Facebook. Se confirma que el bienestar psicológico de las chicas baja considerablemente con la edad, y que está 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-concepción y auto-presentación más sexualmente indiferenciada con una leve preferencia por rasgos masculinos, tanto en chicos como en chicas; además, la masculinidad está asociada a un mayor grado de bienestar psicológico.
Gender Differences: Examination of the 12-Item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI-12) in an Older Brazilian Population
