Dressing up with Disney and Make-Believe with Marvel: The Impact of Gendered Costumes on Gender Typing, Prosocial Behavior, and Perseverance during Early Childhood

Coyne, Sarah M.; Rogers, Adam A.; Shawcroft, Jane; Hurst, Jeffrey L.

doi:10.1007/s11199-020-01217-y

Cited by 18 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…As prior research has found that boys and girls are affected by Disney princess engagement differently (e.g., Coyne, Rogers, et al, 2021), we examined if a multiple group model moderating the effect of Disney princess body size of children’s body esteem and gendered play by gender was appropriate. First, we constructed an unconstrained multiple group model grouping by child gender using Mplus 8.4.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on the relationship between engagement with Disney princesses and children’s development has found that in early childhood, boys, and girls display higher levels of feminine gender stereotypes the more they engage with Disney princesses (Coyne et al, 2016). However, follow-up analyses with this same sample several years later found that early engagement with Disney princesses does not influence long-term gender stereotypes for girls and predicted lower levels of hegemonic masculinity for boys (Coyne, Rogers, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Social Cognitive Theory and Media Effectsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Despite concern that engagement with Disney princesses might harm children's body esteem (Orenstein, 2011), however, little research supports the notion that Disney princess media leads to lower body esteem of girls (Coyne et al, 2016;Hayes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010) despite research that has found that young girls are aware of the unrealistic depictions of ultrathin princesses (e.g., Lee, 2009). In contrast, some research has documented a positive association between engagement with Disney princess media and girls' (Coyne, Rogers, et al, 2021) and boys' (Coyne et al, 2016) body esteem. These findings are nuanced, however, by studies demonstrating an association between watching Disney princess movies and poor body esteem in undergraduate women (Flomenbaum, 2017).…”

Section: Body Esteemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ariel, Aurora, or Anna? Disney princess body size as a predictor of body esteem and gendered play in early childhood.

Shawcroft,

Gale,

Coyne

et al. 2024

Psychology of Popular Media

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This study explores the longitudinal effect of princess body size of children’s favorite Disney princesses on young children’s body esteem and gendered play over a 1-year period using a sample of 320 children, age 3½ at Time 1 and age 4½ at Time 2. Girls whose favorite princess had an average body size engaged in more masculine-type play a year later, but there were no associations between princesses’ body size and developmental outcomes for boys. Children whose favorite princess had an average body size showed a positive relationship between playing pretend princess and body esteem, masculine-type play, and feminine-type play. Children whose favorite princess was thin did not show a relationship between playing pretend princess and body esteem, masculine-type play, or feminine-type play. Our findings suggest that princesses with average body sizes create a protective context for children’s body esteem and may encourage both masculine- and feminine-type play by modeling both masculine and feminine activities and behaviors.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Cognitive Theory and Media Effectsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Body Esteemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ariel, Aurora, or Anna? Disney princess body size as a predictor of body esteem and gendered play in early childhood.

Shawcroft,

Gale,

Coyne

et al. 2024

Psychology of Popular Media

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“…Parents who could not have the childhood of their choice like to make their students dress up as Disney characters and look like their favorite characters (Harvey, 2020). This behavior ultimately makes the children believe that their parents are there to fulfill their dreams; that is why they become lazy and dependent but keep nourishing their luxurious dreams (Coyne, Rogers, Shawcroft & Hurst, 2020). Parents feel comfortable about Disney movies rather than giving attention to what children watch.…”

Section: Discussion On Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing Hidden Elements in Disney Movies and Effects on Children

Siddique

Pasha

Ali

2021

GSR

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Disney characters and themes are inspiring for children. There is much more than an apparent setting of the Disney movies. Children learn to respect and help others; they also absorb some hidden messages. This research also aims to examine the hidden elements in the content produced by Disney as a major entertainment corporation. The researcher analyzed relevant movies and found prominent elements, i.e., escape, sexual content, jealousy, and stereotyping. Notably, parents of Disney movies' viewers do not guide their children or discuss the movies with the children to increase the potential influence of the movies on little minds. The effects of Disney movies include fear, low confidence, egoism, unrealistic expectations, ignorance, daydreaming, and contentment. Further, we have discussed the results and proposed recommendations for future researchers.

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“…However, there is also evidence that weapon play seems to correlate minimally with criminality later in life (Smith et al, 2018). Therefore, the extent to which children's engagement with Marvel and Star Wars media is associated with weapon play requires further research in order to understand the relationship between violence in such media and the behaviour of children consuming it, especially as boys who are dressed in Marvel superhero costumes show more stereotypical toy preferences as well as less prosocial behaviour (Coyne et al, 2021b).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Gendered Behaviours Displayed by Influential Disney, Marvel and Star Wars Protagonists and Examining the Link Between Children’s Engagement with these Franchises and their Play Behaviour.

Clarke

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This thesis reports a programme of research that explored the gendered messages within influential Disney feature length animations, a Star Wars animated television series, and a Marvel animated television series. It also examined extent to which engagement with these franchises statistically predicted children’s gendered behaviour and weapon play. The first study of this thesis was a quantitative content analysis of thirty-nine Disney protagonists. The results showed that some of the ‘earliest’ female Disney protagonists were the most feminine analysed, although almost all were more feminine than masculine. The male Disney protagonists seemed to adhere to less stereotypes, and were, generally, more feminine than masculine overall. Study two investigated how gender was portrayed in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Star Wars Star Wars Rebels animated television series, utilising Thematic Analysis. This was important as the Walt Disney Corporation recently acquired these franchises. The results revealed that stereotypical masculinity was portrayed by the male protagonists within each series, however, the female protagonists in Star Wars Rebels seemed more genuinely valued than the female superhero in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble. The third study of this thesis utilised parent report methodology to investigate whether engagement with the Disney, Marvel and Star Wars franchises statistically predicted children’s level of gendered behaviour and weapon play, as well as whether parental mediation and exposure to television violence moderated any established relationships. The results indicted that although each franchise did predict gender stereotypical behaviour and weapon play, there were some unexpected gender differences in the relationships. It was concluded that the producers of Disney, Star Wars and Marvel media should be made aware of the relationship between the gendered messages within their content and children’s behaviour. Additionally, parents and children should be educated on this topic, with the aim to reduce the relationships that were found. Chapter seven summarises the results of each study and considers the implications of the current findings.

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Dressing up with Disney and Make-Believe with Marvel: The Impact of Gendered Costumes on Gender Typing, Prosocial Behavior, and Perseverance during Early Childhood

Cited by 18 publications

References 55 publications

Ariel, Aurora, or Anna? Disney princess body size as a predictor of body esteem and gendered play in early childhood.

Ariel, Aurora, or Anna? Disney princess body size as a predictor of body esteem and gendered play in early childhood.

Analyzing Hidden Elements in Disney Movies and Effects on Children

Investigating the Gendered Behaviours Displayed by Influential Disney, Marvel and Star Wars Protagonists and Examining the Link Between Children’s Engagement with these Franchises and their Play Behaviour.

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