Gender-role orientation and social expectations regarding female adolescents' coping with developmental tasks

This study focuses on the importance of social developmental expectations, assessed as emotional and cognitive evaluations regarding the timing and the gender-role conformity of normative developmental tasks, Two central questions were raised. First, to what degree do the timing and the gender-role conformity affect the adults' expectations? Second, how much does the adults' own gender-role orientation (GRO), classified as traditional vs, liberal, affect their expectations? A 4 (timing modus) x 2 (developmental task) x 2 (gender-role conformity)factorial design was administered to a sample of 140 adults of both sexes, 20 to 81 years old. Coping in time and with gender-role typical career received the most approval. Typical developmental tasks were more approved by persons with a traditional than with a liberal GRO. However, the evaluation of non-typical developmental tasks was not affected by the GRO. The possibility of a shift in normative expectations toward more liberal, diverse, and self-defined female gender-roles is discussed.