Survey of Heteronormative Attitudes and Tolerance Toward Gender Non-conformity in Mountain West Undergraduate Students

A Modified Menstrual Attitudes Scale: Heteronormative Attitudes, Sexism, and Attitudes Toward Menstruation in Male and Female Adults

Social shame and stigma surround menstruation, which may compromise women's health and rights in various contexts. Men's attitudes are particularly important because men often hold positions of power that influence women's experience. This study examined factors associated with menstrual attitudes, including heteronormative attitudes, sexism, and family influences. A cross-sectional Qualtrics panel survey (n = 802; aged 18-44; 50.8% female) was performed. We tested a revised menstrual attitudes scale based on items drawn from previously validated measures. Data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling framework. Factor analysis identified and confirmed a 5-factor model for menstrual attitudes. Men endorsed more negative attitudes toward menstruation than women; however, this difference was largely explained by factors other than gender in the structural equation model. After controlling for family and demographic characteristics, attitudes toward openness and secrecy surrounding menstruation were most strongly associated with gender role expectations and hostile sexism. Benevolent sexism was associated with finding menstruation debilitating, denying menstrual symptoms, and endorsing avoidance of activities during menstruation. Heteronormative and sexist attitudes were associated with more negative menstrual attitudes, while increased menstrual knowledge was associated with more positive menstrual attitudes. The difference in menstrual attitudes between males and females was explained largely by heteronormative attitudes and sexism. This suggests that attitudes toward menstruation are closely linked to social ideals about men and women.

Prenatal Sex Role Stereotypes: Gendered Expectations and Perceptions of (Expectant) Parents

People assign attributes to a different degree to other persons depending on whether these are male or female (sex role stereotypes). Such stereotypes continue to exist even in countries with lower gender inequality. The present research tested the idea that parents develop sex role consistent expectations of their babies' attributes based on fetal sex (by ultrasound diagnostic), as well as gendered perceptions of their recently newborn babies. A total of 304 dyads of predominantly White expecting parents from Germany were followed over the course of pregnancy until after the birth and completed a sex role inventory on their babies' expected (before birth) as well as perceived traits (after birth). Specifically, they rated to what extent they expected their babies to have normatively feminine traits (e.g., soft-spoken and warm) and normatively masculine traits (e.g., independent and assertive) twice before birth (first half of pregnancy, six weeks before due date) and to what extent they perceived their baby to have these traits eight weeks after birth. The results suggested that fathers held gendered expectations and perceptions, whereas mothers did not. These results suggest that male and female babies are likely to encounter sex role stereotypes about their alleged attributes as soon as their birth.

Do Men Have No Need for “Feminist” Artificial Intelligence? Agentic and Gendered Voice Assistants in the Light of Basic Psychological Needs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is supposed to perform tasks autonomously, make competent decisions, and interact socially with people. From a psychological perspective, AI can thus be expected to impact users’ three Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs), namely (i) autonomy, (ii) competence, and (iii) relatedness to others. While research highlights the fulfillment of these needs as central to human motivation and well-being, their role in the acceptance of AI applications has hitherto received little consideration. Addressing this research gap, our study examined the influence of BPN Satisfaction on Intention to Use (ITU) an AI assistant for personal banking. In a 2×2 factorial online experiment, 282 participants (154 males, 126 females, two non-binary participants) watched a video of an AI finance coach with a female or male synthetic voice that exhibited either high or low agency (i.e., capacity for self-control). In combination, these factors resulted either in AI assistants conforming to traditional gender stereotypes (e.g., low-agency female) or in non-conforming conditions (e.g., high-agency female). Although the experimental manipulations had no significant influence on participants’ relatedness and competence satisfaction, a strong effect on autonomy satisfaction was found. As further analyses revealed, this effect was attributable only to male participants, who felt their autonomy need significantly more satisfied by the low-agency female assistant, consistent with stereotypical images of women, than by the high-agency female assistant. A significant indirect effects model showed that the greater autonomy satisfaction that men, unlike women, experienced from the low-agency female assistant led to higher ITU. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical relevance and the risk of reproducing traditional gender stereotypes through technology design.

University students' views regarding gender in STEM studies: Design and validation of an instrument

Differences in the representation of diversity in higher education, emphasising the gender gap in some areas, are issues addressed from different research domains. Socially, gender roles have been constructed and are also related to professions. In this context, the Social Cognitive Career Theory explores the possible causes of segregation. This segregation is evident in Europe and Spain, as indicated by the European Institute for Gender Equality. This paper describes the design and validation process of an instrument to find out what opinions university students have about higher education studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), according to gender. After drafting the questionnaire, it was piloted in a non-experimental quantitative design in Spain. Subsequently, a validity and reliability study was applied to validate the items and construct their dimensionality. The process was implemented using Reliability Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Also, the dimensionality consists of five scales: Gender Ideology, Perception and Self-perception, Expectations about Science, Attitudes and Interests. Based on the results, it is concluded that the opinion about STEM studies is conditioned by personal elements, such as motivations, educational background and family and social influences, such as people who judged their decision, were their references or studied STEM programs. Finally, it is essential to pay socio-educational attention to the modulating components of decisions about which higher education studies to pursue. Awareness of the factors involved in the decision helps the educational community to establish mechanisms to prevent horizontal gender segregation. The instrument designed, validated and presented in this study provides a glimpse of possible causes for the gender gap in STEM higher education.