Gender attitudes and norms among young men
February 17, 2021
Previous research has linked rigid gender norms with increased intimate partner violence and poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Teen pregnancy prevention programs that address rigid gender norms may help youth foster more gender-equitable attitudes and healthier relationships and, ultimately, avoid unintended teen pregnancies. However, it can be challenging to use surveys to measure changes in gender norms that may result from these interventions, as many commonly used scales were not developed with modern U.S-based adolescents in mind. Moreover, gender attitudes and norms encompass a number of underlying domains that may vary by population, and intervention programs may choose to target only certain domains.
This brief provides program developers, implementers, and evaluators with survey items and outcome measures to consider when assessing participants’ attitudes around gender norms. Findings are based on an analysis of underlying gender norm and attitude factors that are most salient to a sample of mostly Black and Latino adolescent males. Survey items are drawn from Child Trends’ evaluation of Manhood 2.0, an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program developed by Promundo for young men. The program examines rigid gender norms and partner communication about sex and aims to prevent intimate partner violence and support female partners in contraceptive use. The program was evaluated with mostly Black and Latino young men, ages 15 to 18, in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
