Influence of early romantic relationships on adolescents’ sexism / Sexismo en la adolescencia: influencia de las primeras relaciones de pareja

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of romantic relationships on adolescents’ sexism. We primed some of the participants with their past and/or present relationship experiences before assessing their sexism. A sample of 130 adolescents (67 boys and 63 girls) from Spanish high schools participated in the study. Half of them were asked to report on their relationship experience first before responding to an ambivalent sexism inventory. The other half of the sample responded first to the sexism inventory and then reported on their relationship experience. The results of this study showed that when participants’ relationship experiences were primed, they reported higher endorsement of sexist beliefs: boys reported higher BS and HS, whereas girls reported higher BS.