Gender Role Attitudes across the Transition to Adolescent Motherhood in Mexican‐Origin Families

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12127
• Published date: 01 June 2015
• Date: 01 June 2015
• Author: Kimberly A. Updegraff,Adriana J. Umaña‐Taylor,Laudan B. Jahromi,Russell B. Toomey

Gender Role Attitudes across the Transition to

Adolescent Motherhood in Mexican-Origin Families

RUSSELL B. TOOMEY*

KIMBERLY A. UPDEGRAFF

†

ADRIANA J. UMAN

˜A-TAYLOR

†

LAUDAN B. JAHROMI

‡

Using longitudinal data collected at four time points from 191 dyads of Mexican-origin

adolescent first-time mothers and their mother figures, we examined changes in and social-

ization of traditional gender role attitudes across the transition to parenthood using latent

growth curve modeling and actor–partner interdependence modeling. Longitudinal gr owth

models indicated that, regardless of nativity status, adolescent mothers’ and their foreign-

born mother figures’ gender role attitudes became more egalitarian across adolescents’

transition to parenthood, spanning from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy to 36 months post-

partum. Furthermore, actor-partner interdependence modeling suggested that adole scents’

and their mother figures’ gender role attitudes during adolescents’ third trimester of preg-

nancy equally contributed to subsequent increases in one another’s gender role attitudes at

10 months postpartum. Importantly, this reciprocal socialization process was no t moder-

ated by adolescent mothers’ nor by their mother figures’ nativity status. Findings suggest

that it is important to understand the cultural and intergenerational family processes that

contribute to the development of gender role attitudes during the transition to parenthoo d

for adolescent mothers and their mother figures in Mexican-origin families.

Keywords: Gende r Role Attitudes; Adolescent Mothers; Actor–Partner Interdependence

Modeling

Fam Proc 54:247–262, 2015

Gender role attitudes inform parenting decisions (Katz-Wise, Priess, & Hyde, 2010)

and the division of labor between partners (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010), making these

attitudes central to understanding the family ecology. Gender role attitudes refer to

beliefs about what roles and behaviors are appropriate for women and men (Hoffman &

Kloska, 1995). At a fundamental level, traditional gender role ideologies suggest that

women and men are different and therefore should assume distinct roles and functions,

whereas egalitarian gender role ideologies suggest that roles and functions should be

assigned independent of gender (Rogers & Amato, 2000). Research on the gender role atti-

tudes of parents, conducted largely with adult and primarily non-Latina/o White samples,

has found that attitudes typically become more traditional during the transition to parent-

hood (Katz-Wise et al., 2010), and other studies find that these attitudes remain relatively

stable after this transition (Fan & Marini, 2000). Yet, few longitudinal studies have

*School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH.

†

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

‡

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Russell B Toomey, School of Lifespan

Development and Educational Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH. E-mail: rtoomey1@kent.edu.

247

Family Process, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2015 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12127

examined stability or change in traditional gender role attitudesamong adolescent mothers

during the transition to parenthood, even though gender roles attitudes are typically still

developing throughout adolescence (Crouter, Whiteman,McHale, & Osgood, 2007).

Teen pregnancy rates have declined in the United States since the early 1990s (Santelli

& Melnikas, 2010), but remain a pressing issue to study given that the United States has

the highest rate among all developed countries (United Nations Statistics Division, 2012).

Furthermore, Mexican-origin adolescents have the highest birthrate of all ethnic groups

in the United States (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2011), and Mexican-origin

individuals constitute the fastest-growing ethnic minority group in the United States

(U.S. Census, 2013). Thus, it is particularly important to understand normative develop-

mental processes, such as the development of gender role attitudes, among Mexican-origin

adolescents, especially those who experience a non-normative transition to parenthood

during adolescence.

In addition, few studies have examined the role of culture in understanding how gen-

der role attitudes change or remain stable across the transition to adolescent parent-

hood. To our knowledge, virtually no studies have investigated gender role attitudes

across the transition to parenthood among Mexican-origin adolescents and their mother

figures, despite knowledge that risk for teen pregnancy is heightened in this population

(Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2011) and gender plays a prominent role in

the lives of Latina/o families (e.g., Cauce & Domenech-Rodr

ıguez, 2002). Thus, the

current study used data from a community-based sample of first-time, Mexican-origin

adolescent mothers and their mother figures to examine (a) within-person developmental

changes in gender role attitudes, and (b) the bidirectional nature of gender role attitude

socialization across the transition to parenthood among adolescent mothers and their

mother figures.

Developmental and Contextual Differences between Adolescent and Adult Mothers

The malleability of gender role attitudes is largely a function of the socializing experi-

ences that one endures (Fan & Marini, 2000). Thus, the timing of pregnancy (i.e., in ado-

lescence or in adulthood), in conjunction with current social and contextual norms about

when pregnancy is socially acceptable during the lifespan (i.e., adulthood in the United

States; Flanagan, McGrath, Meyer, & Garcia Coll, 1995), likely has implications for nor-

mative development, including the development of gender role attitudes. That is, gender

role attitudes may shift during the transition to parenthood for both adolescent and adult

mothers, given the new context and parenting roles that shape their environment; how-

ever, this shift in attitudes may differ for mothers who transition to parenthood in adoles-

cence compared to in adulthood.

Distinct developmental and contextual differences between adolescent and adult moth-

ers may contribute to qualitative changes (or relative stability) in their gender role

attitudes during the parenting transition. First, and perhaps most importantly, adolescent

mothers are in a developmental period when they are still forming and sharpening their

cognitive abilities and social skills (Flanagan et al., 1995). Thus, gender role attitudes

may shift (i.e., become more egalitarian or more traditional) as adolescents gain the cogni-

tive abilities necessary to consider abstract concepts, such as the role of gender in society,

or after increased exposure to new social influences and experiences (e.g., observing how

others negotiate gender). Some studies have found that gender role attitudes tend to

become more egalitarian across the developmental transition from adolescence to young

adulthood (Fan & Marini, 2000), whereas others have found that changes in gender role

attitudes vary as a function of various individual and contextual characteristics, such as

gender, birth order, or parents’ attitudes (e.g., Crouter et al., 2007; Galambos, Almeida, &

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