NCJ Number
227982
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 8 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 1027-1037
Date Published
September 2009
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined predictors of level of voice in a relational context among an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of adolescent girls
Abstract
Findings suggest that femininity is not a risk factor for low levels of voice; that African-American girls had higher levels of voice with teachers and classmates than Caucasian girls; and that girls in a school with a greater concentration of ethnic minorities had higher levels of voice with peers than did girls at a school with fewer minority students. Parental attachment predicted level of voice with authority figures, and gender role socialization predicted level of voice with authority figures and peers. Both masculinity and femininity were salient for higher levels of voice with authority figures; higher scores on masculinity contribute to higher levels of voice with peers. This study contributes to the current literature by empirically validating a conceptual model for level of voice, parsing out the contribution of attachment and gender role socialization to level of voice, and delineating the ethnic difference in level of voice. Data were collected from 108 eighth grade girls in a midsize Midwestern school system. The Inauthentic Self in Relationships Scale and the Teenage Voice Questionnaire were used to measure level of voice; the Behavioral Systems Questionnaire was used to assess behavioral systems, and the Children's Sex Role Inventory was used to measure gender-role socialization. Tables, figures, and references