Heroes and heroines among American adolescents

Balswick, Jack O.; Ingoldsby, Bron B.

doi:10.1007/bf00287308

Cited by 38 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Senior athletes select for their idols 87.4% male athletes and 12.6% female athletes. Balswick and Ingoldsby (1982) surveyed American adolescents and found that seven male heroes were selected for every one female heroine. Melnick and Jackson (2002) found that 78.4% of chosen idols were males and 21.6% females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sports idols of senior athletes

Ilić¹

2013

sgai

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SUMMARYThe aim of this paper is to identify idols of senior athletes. And based on the identification of idols some conclusions can be made with respect to the system of values some person. The sample included 318 Serbian professional senior athletes (183 male and 135 female), 18 to 40 years old. Respondents were engaged in 28 different sports, mostly volleyball, water polo, basketball, karate, bocca, savate, handball, kyokushin. The independent variables were gender and selected idol and dependent variables were sport, gender, actuality and origin of idol. Senior athletes for their sports idols, in most cases elect Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Milorad Čavić. It turns out that the majority of male and female athletes are selected for their idol person that comes out of their sport, but also that there are some differences in the choice of idols and characteristics of idols in male and female athletes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sports idols of senior athletes

Ilić¹

2013

sgai

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“…However, later research has not shown evidence of a balanced choice of heroes and heroines. Balswick and Ingoldsby (1982) found that the ratio of heroes to heroines chosen was 3:1, both by boys and girls, and they argued that latent sexism in society was a factor that prevented female public figures from achieving the same legitimacy as their male counterparts. Studies conducted in the latter part of the twentieth century show a consistent pattern of responses, in which adolescents name more males than females as their heroes, and girls are more likely to make opposite-sex choices than boys (Duck 1990;Freedman-Doan and Eccles 1996;Bromnick and Swallow 1999;Anderson and Cavallaro 2002;Melnick and Jackson 2002;Yancey, Siegel, and McDaniel 2002;Gash and Dominguez 2009).…”

Section: Adolescent's Choice Of Heroes and Known Adultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Gender differences in adolescents’ choice of heroes and admired adults in five countries

Estrada¹,

García-Ael

Martorell³

2014

Gender and Education

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Seven hundred and sixty-eight adolescents from five countries and regions (USA, Spain, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Malaysia), aged 13-19 (M = 15.78; SD = 1.28) years, responded to a questionnaire designed to determine who was their most admired famous adult or hero. Male heroes clearly outnumbered admired females (73.3% vs. 26.7%). There was a pattern of same-sex choices, but it was more likely for girls to choose male heroes than for boys to choose females. Over half of the admired adults were athletes, and movie, television, and music stars. Regarding the personally known adults, there was a more balanced choice of males and females, with parents as the most frequent choice. Results suggest that society continues to fail in providing an adequate supply of female role models.A clear example of society's bias towards males is adolescents' preference of male heroes and masculine attributes over female ones. It is possible that this preference even serves to perpetuate this inequality over the decades. It was suggested in the earlier studies that society presented mostly males as exemplars of human excellence and achievement and therefore it was understandable that youth would turn to men as their primary source of heroes (Darrah 1898).In recent years, the number of women joining the workplace has increased and improvements in the closing of the gender gap have been reported. Furthermore, modernisation has brought about drastic changes in the ways young people around the world access information, which is now far from the traditional linear model of direct transmission. Given these societal changes, it is worth exploring if adolescents' choice of heroes is moving towards greater equality alongside other societal changes. Specifically, we will examine if (a) adolescents' choice of heroes and admired adults continues to show an imbalance in favour of male figures; (b) admired characteristics in heroes and personally known adults reflect gender-based social attributes; and (c) there are cross-cultural differences in hero choices and hero attributes.

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“…They might then be motivated to set themselves on a course of action aimed at reaching adult goals. Except for sports heros, however, adolescents have few models of adults they seek to emulate (Balswick & Ingoldsby, 1982;McCormack, 1984); the prospect of current adult careers--for example, becoming a systems analyst, marketing specialist, or health technician--is not likely to inspire initiative. Recent commentators have also noted that the path into adult occupations is opaque to young people.…”

Section: Initiative In a Western Cultural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%