Early adolescence, the time between 10 and 14 years of age, is an important developmental period. Parents retain crucial influence over the physical, emotional, and cognitive development of their early adolescents by providing for their material well-being and through role modeling, monitoring, and socialization. As such, gender norms endorsed by parents strongly influence what adolescents believe to be the socially acceptable sets of behaviors for boys and girls. Gender inequitable constructs resulting from restrictive gender norms are passed down intergenerationally from parents to their children, and also directly affect the mental and physical health of both girls and boys. In low- and middle-income countries both sexes are negatively impacted by inequitable gender attitudes; however, girls are typically disproportionately disadvantaged. An estimated 535 million children live in countries experiencing conflicts, natural disasters and other humanitarian crises. The nature and extent to which parents' endorsed gender norms affect the well-being of early adolescents living in protracted humanitarian crises remains an understudied phenomenon though. The proposed dissertation study will be guided by Blum et al.'s' Conceptual Framework for Early Adolescence and the Social Norms Approach, both adapted by the applicant to analyze parents' gender norms' effect on adolescent mental health, education engagement, and nutrition. The purpose of this proposed mixed methods dissertation study is to examine the relationship between parent-endorsed gender norms and their early adolescents' mental health, education engagement, and nutrition in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The specific aims of this study are to: 1) examine how level of parental endorsement of equitable gender norms is associated with anxiety/depression, prosocial behavior, school attendance, and food security in early adolescence ; 2) examine how adolescent gender moderates the association between parents' gender norms and adolescents' anxiety/depression, prosocial behavior, school attendance, and food security; and 3) explore adolescents' perceptions of how parents' endorsement of gender norms influence their mental health, educational engagement, and nutrition. A comprehensive gender equality scale will be the primary quantitative measure of parents' attitudes toward gender equality. This study is aligned with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development strategic priority of identifying the social, environmental, economic, and biological factors that influence early adolescent adaptive behavior development and school functioning, by understanding how parental gender norms impact the mental health, educational engagement, and nutrition of early adolescents living in a protracted humanitarian setting. This training plan will begin a program of research focused on the promotion of the health and well-being of adolescents living in a post-conflict humanitarian setting. This study will inform the development of culturally appropriate interventions to designed to help communities challenge inequitable gender norms and to replace them with norms that value gender equality.
Gender norms are a complex set of rules that are passed down intergenerationally from parents to their children, and also directly affect the mental and physical health of both female and male early adolescent children. The nature and extent to which parents' gender norms differentially affect the well-being of their male and female early adolescents living in a post-conflict humanitarian setting remains understudied. The proposed dissertation study will examine the relationship between parent-endorsed gender norms and their early adolescents' mental health, educational engagement, and nutrition in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
