Felt gender typicality and psychosocial adjustment in Indian early adolescents

The association between felt gender typicality (self-perceived similarity to the same-gender peer group) and psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, peer social competence, depression, victimization, and aggression) was examined in a sample of early adolescents in New Delhi, India (N = 296, 130 girls, mean age = 12.73 years). We also explored whether adolescents’ gender-differentiating cognitions (felt pressure for gender conformity, work sexism, and entity beliefs) affect their adjustment, alone and in interaction with felt typicality. Results indicated that felt typicality was associated with higher self-esteem in girls and in older adolescents, with lower depression in older adolescents, and with higher peer social competence. Gender-differentiating beliefs were especially detrimental to girls’ and younger adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, with mixed results for boys’ adjustment. Gender beliefs also moderated the influence of felt typicality on adjustment. Felt atypicality was associated with greater depression and aggression when adolescents also reported strongly sexist beliefs; and with greater victimization for older adolescents who had high felt pressure or work sexism. Further, boys with strong entity beliefs failed to derive peer social competence from felt typicality. Results indicate that gender self-discrepancy—a disconnect between how one sees oneself in relation to the same-gender peer group and how one feels one’s gender should be—is problematic