Gender Differences in the Personality Development of Adolescents

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENTS BELONGING TO DIFFERENT PARENTING STYLES S. Sravanthi And Dr. M. Sarada Devi The present study was designed to investigate the gender differences in the personality development of adolescents belonging to different parenting styles. The sample comprised of 180 adolescents (60 democratic, 60 permissive and 60 authoritarian parents and their children who comprised of equal number of boys and girls). MAP Series (Teenage Form) covering 20 dimensions was used for data collection.

The results revealed that boys belonging to democratic parenting style had high personality development in all the dimensions followed by permissive parenting style. Adolescents belonging to authoritarian parents had low scores on personality development than the adolescents with democratic and permissive parents. INTRODUCTION: Parenting is a complex activity that includes many specific behaviours that work individually and together to influence the child outcomes.

Parents occupy the most important place in the perceptual world of the child (Eisenberg 1996). Parenting is the most rewarding work of adult life. ------------------------------------------------- Parenting styles are broad categories that can overlap, shift, mix and change overtime. Often discipline is considered as essential for the growth and development of the child, Parental discipline is very essential for building healthy personality of the child.

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The patterns of socialization used by parents influence the child’s personality. *S. Sravanthi (M. Sc) Student, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Home Science, ANGRAU, Saifabad, Hyderabad **Dr. M. Sarada Devi Associate professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Home Science, ANGRAU, Saifabad, Hyderabad The term personality is derived from Latin word “persona” which means, “mask”.

Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought. Adolescents are extremely personality conscious and highly motivated to improve them. Diana Baumarind (1983) has classified the techniques of disciplining in three fold scheme and the research focused on three of them 1) Authoritarian 2) Authoritative/Democratic and 3) Permissive.

The research indicates that authoritative parenting is associated with increase in attitudinal and behavioural indicators of academic orientation during adolescents, including greater engagement in classroom activities, higher educational aspirations and more positive feelings about school compared to adolescents from permissive and authoritarian parenting style (MaccobyEE 1996). METHODOLOGY Sample: The sample comprised of one hundred and eighty adolescents including equal number of boys and girls from three parenting styles i. e. democratic, permissive and authoritarian. The sample drawn was randomly selected from different high schools of Hyderabad city. Tools Used: In order to find out the gender differences in personality development, MAP series (Teenage Form) consisting of 20 personality dimensions was used covering (adaptability, academic achievement, boldness, competition creativity, enthusiasm, excitability, general ability, guilt proneness, individualism, innovation, leadership, maturity, mental health, morality, self-control, sensitivity, self-sufficiency, social warmth and tension).

To find out the different parenting styles adopted by the parents, parenting interactional style questionnaire developed by Vivekan Reddy (1996) was used. Procedure: Along with the Parenting Interactional Style Questionnaire self developed proforma to collect the general information was administered to the sample after collecting the data, it was scored and analyzed statistically using means, S. D and ‘Z’ values yielding the following results. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The present investigation was undertaken with the objective of studying gender differences in the personality development of adolescents belonging to different parenting styles.

Table: 1 Gender differences in personality dimensions of adolescents under democratic parenting style. S. No. | Personality Dimensions| Boys| Girls | ‘Z’ Value| | | Mean| S. D| Mean| S. D. | | 1| Adaptability| 8. 3667| 2. 1573| 8. 0333| 1. 5421| 0. 8848 NS| 2| Academic Achievement | 9. 1667| 1. 7036| 8. 3333| 1. 6470| 1. 9592 NS| 3| Boldness| 9. 1667| 2. 3647| 9. 0000| 2. 0844| 0. 2945 NS| 4| Competition| 7. 9000| 2. 5778| 6. 6333| 2. 3265| 2. 6485**| 5| Creativity| 8. 5333| 1. 6965| 7. 9667| 2. 7353| 1. 2334 NS| 6| Enthusiasm| 7. 1333| 2. 2242| 8. 2333| 1. 8511| 2. 3086*| 7| Excitability| 8. 000| 1. 4288| 6. 9667| 1. 8473| 0. 9699 NS| 8| General Ability| 9. 6000| 2. 6471| 8. 8000| 2. 7089| 1. 1767 NS| 9| Guilt Proneness| 7. 7667| 0. 5854| 7. 9667| 2. 0424| 0. 3854 NS| 10| Individualism| 9. 2000| 2. 0578| 6. 3333| 1. 9911| 4. 9936** | 11| Innovation| 8. 1667| 2. 6403| 6. 8667| 2. 5560| 0. 0666**| 12| Leadership| 10. 1667| 2. 0525| 8. 8000| 2. 3253| 3. 8302 **| 13| Maturity| 9. 1000| 2. 4403| 9. 5000| 1. 8892| 0. 7221 NS| 14| Mental Health| 8. 7333| 2. 3479| 8. 6000| 2. 0443| 0. 5865 NS| 15| Morality| 8. 9333| 2. 1485| 9. 1667| 2. 1348| 0. 3629 NS| 16| Self-control| 8. 2000| 1. 7695| 8. 7333| 1. 954| 0. 7101 **| 17| Sensitivity| 6. 7000| 1. 6432| 7. 3667| 2. 2358| 1. 3385 NS| 18| Self-Sufficiency| 8. 2000| 2. 0745| 7. 6000| 2. 0611| 0. 4042 NS| 19| Social warmth| 8. 6333| 1. 7515| 9. 1667| 2. 1348| 0. 0649 NS| 20| Tension| 5. 7667| 1. 6333| 6. 3667| 2. 0424| 1. 2781 NS| | Total| 163. 3667| 8. 5439| 158. 2667| 11. 4649| 1. 9666*| NS: Not significant Adolescent boys had high mean scores on personality development compared to girls belonging to democratic parenting style. It was evident from the table-1 that adolescent boys had high mean scores on almost all the dimensions of personality development.

This might be due to the fact that boys were given more opportunities by the parents for their development compared to girls. It might also be due to the gender role socialization practices used by the parents as boys to be assertive, independent and self-controlled in nature. This might also be influenced by the high parental expectations towards boys as they are the future breadwinners of the family. Adolescent girls had scored high on few personality dimensions such as maturity, morality, enthusiasm and social warmth.

This might be due to the traditional society set up that girls are more matured than those of boys in the same age group and are better able to take care of the household activities. Boys of democratic parents had better personality development compared to girls of the same parenting styles. This might be due to the fact that parents had provided more opportunities for boys compared to girls from the same group. Table-2: Gender differences in personality dimensions under permissive parenting style S. No. | Personality Dimensions| Boys| Girls | ‘Z’ Value| | | Mean| S. D| Mean| S. D. | | | Adaptability| 6. 7000| 2. 2614| 6. 0333| 1. 9025| 1. 2567 NS| 2| Academic Achievement | 5. 3735| 1. 7367| 6. 9333| 1. 7604| 3. 4543**| 3| Boldness| 9. 0333| 2. 3560| 8. 9667| 2. 7728| 0. 2890 NS| 4| Competition| 7. 2000| 3. 0103| 6. 3667| 1. 9384| 0. 8297 NS| 5| Creativity| 8. 9333| 1. 9106| 7. 8667| 2. 4877| 1. 6140 NS| 6| Enthusiasm| 7. 9000| 2. 4262| 5. 8667| 2. 0965| 4. 8871**| 7| Excitability| 8. 5000| 1. 8892| 6. 7333| 2. 2733| 3. 4582**| 8| General Ability| 7. 4000| 3. 6446| 6. 8333| 2. 6008| 0. 7051 NS| 9| Guilt Proneness| 7. 7667| 1. 8323| 7. 8333| 3. 2065| 0. 1006 NS| 10| Individualism| 9. 333| 1. 6750| 8. 3667| 1. 8096| 1. 9580 NS| 11| Innovation| 8. 2000| 1. 9722| 6. 4333| 1. 7157| 2. 3007*| 12| Leadership| 8. 1333| 2. 1292| 7. 9333| 1. 6595| 1. 6901 NS| 13| Maturity| 6. 2667| 2. 0833| 8. 3000| 2. 3947| 3. 5687**| 14| Mental Health| 8. 3000| 1. 9853| 6. 7667 | 2. 2846| 2. 6355**| 15| Morality| 8. 0000| 1. 8383| 9. 1333| 2. 1930| 2. 3070*| 16| Self-control| 7. 7000| 1. 8965| 6. 4000| 1. 4288| 4. 4091**| 17| Sensitivity| 8. 5000| 2. 0129| 9. 8667| 1. 8889| 2. 8000*| 18| Self-Sufficiency| 7. 6333| 2. 0745| 7. 4333| 2. 4023| 4. 3297**| 19| Social warmth| 7. 3667| 3. 784| 7. 8667| 2. 1292| 2. 4020*| 20| Tension| 5. 8333| 2. 9371| 7. 7667| 2. 5688| 2. 7602**| | Total| 160. 5667| 17. 1096| 147. 7333| 9. 3521| 3. 6521**| Ns: Not significant Adolescent boys belonging to permissive parenting style had high mean scores on personality development compared to girls. It was evident from the results that adolescent boys had high mean scores on almost all the personality dimensions such as adaptability, boldness, competition, creativity, enthusiasm, excitability, general ability, individualism, leadership, innovation, mental health, self-control and self sufficiency.

This might be due to the fact that parents aspire that the boys should study regularly and get good marks, go far higher studies because the cultural stereotype of male gender role as breadwinner persists in the country. Hence it was clear that personality development of adolescent boys was better compared to girls. Adolescent girls scored high on few personality dimensions such as academic achievement, guilt proneness, morality, maturity, sensitivity, social warmth and tension. This might be due to the fact that girls are good at verbal skills and thinking.

It can also be due to the fact that girls are more emotional and empathetic in nature and good at interaction with others compared to boys. It had not shown significant difference between boys and girls with regard to rest of the dimensions such as adaptability, competition, creativity, general ability, guilt proneness, individualism and leadership. Table -3: Gender differences in personality dimensions under Authoritarian parenting style S. No. | Personality Dimensions| Boys| Girls | ‘Z’ Value| | | Mean| S. D| Mean| S. D. | | 1| Adaptability| 6. 1333| 2. 0634| 7. 6333| 1. 9911| 4. 1677**| 2| Academic Achievement | 6. 2333| 1. 4667| 5. 333| 1. 8286| 2. 2312*| 3| Boldness| 8. 8333| 3. 0522| 5. 5333| 1. 2794| 6. 2634**| 4| Competition| 6. 8667| 2. 1292| 5. 6000| 1. 7340| 2. 5698*| 5| Creativity| 6. 1000| 2. 3540| 7. 5667| 2. 6741| 2. 2935 *| 6| Enthusiasm| 7. 0423| 2. 1930| 5. 0333| 2. 1891| 2. 1353*| 7| Excitability| 7. 4333| 1. 9420| 6. 9667| 1. 9737| 3. 1265**| 8| General Ability| 6. 4667| 2. 7099| 7. 1333| 1. 9429| 0. 2785 NS| 9| Guilt Proneness| 6. 6000| 2. 5134| 7. 5333| 1. 8520| 1. 6654 NS| 10| Individualism| 6. 9333| 2. 2427| 5. 4333| 1. 7357| 2. 9466**| 11| Innovation| 7. 1000| 2. 6438| 5. 4333| 2. 2234| 2. 6878**| 12| Leadership| 6. 8333| 1. 286| 5. 6667| 1. 7876| 4. 8019**| 13| Maturity| 6. 8667| 1. 5698| 7. 3000| 2. 5617| 0. 8035 NS| 14| Mental Health| 8. 2333| 2. 0957| 5. 9667| 2. 5391| 4. 4567**| 15| Morality| 6. 6667| 1. 7876| 7. 2667| 2. 5722| 1. 0671 NS| 16| Self-control| 8. 0333| 3. 1784| 6. 1000| 1. 4937| 3. 0668**| 17| Sensitivity| 6. 8333| 2. 2118| 5. 9333| 2. 0500| 1. 2284 NS| 18| Self-Sufficiency| 6. 9333| 2. 2118| 5. 9333| 2. 0500| 1. 2284 NS| 19| Social warmth| 8. 5000| 2. 7133| 8. 6672 | 2. 2642| 1. 5108 NS| 20| Tension| 8. 3667| 2. 0424| 10. 3667| 1. 4735| 4. 4241**| | Total| 151. 1333| 12. 2072| 134. 2333| 7. 9903| 6. 4199**| NS: Not significant

Adolescent’s boys had high mean scores on personality development compared to girls from authoritarian parenting style. It was evident from the results that adolescent boys had high mean scores with reference to almost all the dimensions of personality development such as academic achievement, boldness, competition, enthusiasm, excitability, individualism, innovation, leadership, mental health; self-control, sensitivity and tension. Hence it was revealed that personality development of adolescent boys was better than those of girls. This might be due to the parental expectations and aspirations on adolescents that differ on both genders.

It might also be due to the roles taken up by adolescents in household activities such as girls taking care of cleaning, cooking where as boys going out for buying groceries and paying the bills and technical work etc. Adolescent girls had scored high on few dimensions such as adaptability, creativity, maturity, morality sensitivity, social warmth and tension. This might be due to the result of gender role socialization practices such as girls are trained to become good home markers and they are quick in absorbing the models from their parents compared to boys.

Both boys and girls were on par in personality dimensions such as general ability and guilt proneness as there was no significant difference found between the two genders. The present findings are in line with the study conducted by Chowdhary et al. (1995), which revealed that girls required more support from their parent’s, and their needs were more as compared to boys. In a study on parent’s gender differentiated socialization practices concluded that, parents do indeed reinforce gender-typed behaviour such as play, activity, and toy choices (Maccoby & Jacklin 1974).

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Significant differences were noticed in personality development of adolescent boys and girls belonging to different parenting styles. Boys belonging to democratic parents had better personality development compared to girls. Where as the adolescents belonging to authoritarian parenting style had low personality development than the adolescents of democratic and permissive parenting styles. On the whole it was evident that democratic parenting style was found to have significant positive influence on personality development of the adolescents.

Hence from the results it was clear that democratic parenting style was best-suggested to develop personality development among the adolescents. Bibliography Baumrind D 1967 Child care practices anticipating patterns of pre-school behaviour. Genetic psychology monographs 75 : 43-88. Chowdhary, Aparijitha, Muni and Kumari A 1995 Roles of parental support in Childrens, need satisfaction and academic achievement. Journal of Community Guidance and Research 12 (2) : 135-144. Maccoby E E and Martin J A 1996 Socialization in the context of the family, Parent child interaction, Newyork, Handbook of psychology. Ed 4th Edition 1-101.

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