The effects of nongender-role stereotyped, same-sex role models in storybooks on the self-esteem of children in grade three

The Influence of Media Role Models on Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity

“…This finding is not surprising considering that The L Word primarily featured lesbian characters, whereas Will and Grace featured gay male characters. Indeed, our results corroborate previous findings that people are more likely to be influenced by same-sex role models (Basow & Howe, 1980;Giuliano et al, 2007;Lockwood, 2006;Ochman, 1996).…”

“…Consistent with the body of research indicating that role models positively influence various aspects of identity in general (e.g., Cheung & Yue, 2003;Ochman, 1996;Wohlford et al, 2004), Study 1 indicated that participants considered media role models to be influential to their identities. Specifically, participants reported that media role models were influential to the selfrealization of their GLB identities and to their coming-out process.…”

“…As previously mentioned, Ochman (1996) also showed that the positive effects of role models on children's self-concepts were produced when the children in the study were exposed to positive characters who were similar to themselves (i.e., they were the same gender as the children). Indeed, the notion that a role model's similarity to an individual is an important predictor of the role model's influence has been confirmed by a variety of studies demonstrating that people are more influenced by role models of the same gender or race (Basow & Howe, 1980;Giuliano, Turner, Lundquist, & Knight, 2007;Karunanayake & Nauta, 2004;Lockwood, 2006).…”

“…Ochman (1996), for example, found that exposing children to same-sex storybook characters who were strong, positive role models enhanced children's positive self-concepts. This finding is significant in part because Ochman demonstrated that positive portrayals of media characters who share similarities with an individual can produce changes in the individual's self-perception.…”

“…In short, Dobinson and Young and Kivel and Kleiber identified a number of ways in which GLB individuals interact with the media in such a way that increases their comfort with their GLB identity. Although past research has suggested possibilities for the manner in which the media may influence GLB individuals (Basow & Howe, 1980;Boon & Lomore, 2001;Karunanayake & Nauta, 2004;Lockwood, 2006;Matthews, 2005;Ochman, 1996;Wohlford et al, 2004) and has qualitatively examined the influence of the media on GLB subgroups such as lesbians (Dobinson & Young, 2000) and GLB youth (Kivel & Kleiber, 2000), there is a dearth of empirical research that has systematically examined the influence of the media on GLB individuals' identities. The purpose of the current investigation was to address this gap by examining the relationship between the media and GLB identity in depth, with a particular focus on the influence of media role models on GLB identity.…”