Gender Consciousness among Urban Adolescents in Osun State

Abstract

This study attempted to find out whether adolescents express their consciousness about the two dimensions of gender (public and private) and to determine the level ofmanifestations of gender consciousness among early and late adolescents. For the purpose of this study, 100(M=56, F=44) were randomly selected from four communities in Osun state (Osogbo, Ikirun, Ile-Ife and Iwo) and tested for gender  consciousness rating using a standardized measure. Findings revealed that early adolescents atX2=0.18 and late adolescents at X2 =0.177, P> 0.05 show a association between their age group and their expression of private and public gender consciousness. The study also revealed that male and female adolescents show different levels of association between their sex and manifestation of gender consciousness (M=56, X2 =0.501, F=44, X2 = 0.25, P <0.05). In-depth analysis of the gender differences in the strength of association between sex of respondents and manifestation of gender consciousness revealed that female adolescents show stronger association than the male adolescents between their sex- type and manifestation of gender consciousness.

Keywords- Gender Consciousness, Adolescents, gender Schema, masculinity and Femininity