Feminists wrestle with testosterone: hormones, socialization and cultural interactionism as predictors of women's gendered selves

Testosterone, gender identity and gender-stereotyped personality attributes

Sex/gender differences in personality associated with gender stereotyped behavior are widely studied in psychology yet remain a subject of ongoing debate. Exposure to testosterone during developmental periods is considered to be a primary mediator of many sex/gender differences in behavior. Extensions of this research has led to both lay beliefs and initial research about individual differences in basal testosterone in adulthood relating to "masculine" personality. In this study, we explored the relationships between testosterone, gender identity, and gender stereotyped personality attributes in a sample of over 400 university students (65 % female assigned at birth). Participants provided ratings of their self-perceived masculinity and femininity, resulting in a continuous measure of gender identity, and a set of agentic and communal personality attributes. A saliva sample was also provided for assay of basal testosterone. Results showed no compelling evidence that basal testosterone correlates with gender-stereotyped personality attributes or explains the relationship between sex/gender identity and these attributes, across, within, or covarying out sex assigned at birth. Contributing to a more gender diverse approach to assessing sex/gender relationships with personality and testosterone, our continuous measure of self-perceived masculinity and femininity predicted additional variance in personality beyond binary sex and showed some preliminary but weak relationships with testosterone. Results from this study cast doubt on the activational testosterone-masculinity hypothesis for explaining sex differences in gender stereotyped traits and within-sex/gender variation in attributes associated with agency and communality.

Time use patterns and household adversities: A lens to understand the construction of gender privilege among children and adolescents in India

We investigate gender differences in time-use patterns in 1891 children and assess how time is reallocated in response to challenges faced by households in India. We use adaptations made within a household during adversities to understand how gender inequality in time use is produced and reinforced. Using three waves of the Young Lives Panel Survey (2009, 2013, and 2016), we find that boys spend significantly more time on school and leisure than girls. Girls spend more time on household chores, care work, and studying at home than boys while spending fewer hours on school and leisure. Girls perform paid work during household adversities besides carrying out additional care work and household chores. Boys are more likely to engage in unpaid work than girls but are similarly affected in other domains. However, their time for education and leisure is often protected. Thus, girls labor more than boys daily and respond in equal measure during adversities, demonstrating that gender inequality in time use emerges at an early age.

Mothers, fathers and the intergenerational transmission of gender ideology

Traditional gender beliefs play an important role in (re-)producing gender inequalities, and trends towards gender egalitarianism have stalled. As such, identifying factors that contribute to individuals upholding traditional versus egalitarian gender attitudes is an important scholarly endeavour. While previous studies have identified critical predictors-such as religion, education and parenthood-intergenerational influences have received comparatively little empirical attention. Drawing upon gender-socialization theory, we derive hypotheses about how parental attitudes towards gender are transmitted to their children, considering differences between mothers' and fathers' influences, parental (dis)agreement in attitudes, and moderation by child's gender. We test these hypotheses using high-quality data from a national sample of Australian 14/15-year-old adolescents (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, n = 1806). We find substantial intergenerational associations in gender ideology. Paternal and maternal attitudes exert a similar degree of influence on their children's attitudes, and have complementary rather than cumulative effects. While fathers' attitudes influence sons' and daughters' attitudes equally, mothers' attitudes influence daughters' attitudes more than sons'.

The "Managed" or Damaged Heart? Emotional Labor, Gender, and Posttraumatic Stressors Predict Workplace Event-Related Acute Changes in Cortisol, Oxytocin, and Heart Rate Variability

Vital to the everyday operation of police services, police communicators (911 call-takers and dispatchers) are persistently subject to imminent challenges in the workplace; they must always be prepared to engage and deal with a wide variety of circumstances that provoke various intense emotions and physiological stress responses. Acute changes in cortisol, oxytocin, and heart rate variability are central to adaptive responses in stressful complex social interactions, but they might also be indicative of physiological dysregulation due to long-term psychosocial stress exposures. Thus, we examine acute stress-induced release of peripheral oxytocin and cortisol along with changes in heart rate variability, and how each relates to persistent workplace stressors and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Findings indicate chronic forms of gendered workplace stress such as emotional labor, gender role stress and, posttraumatic stress each have differential associations with, and predict physiological responses to, acutely stressful events in the workplace. These associations suggest potential mechanisms through which communicators become more vulnerable to developing stress-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress injuries, especially after cumulative traumatic exposures in this context. The results also suggest potential pathways for the biological embedding of stressful gendered workplace experiences.