¿Persisten las actitudes sexistas en los estudiantes universitarios? Un análisis de su prevalencia, predictores y diferencias de género

Abstract

Sexist attitudes constitute the fundamental axis on which unequal relationships between men and women are built and maintained. At present, and despite the fact that in Western countries sexism manifests itself in more subtle ways, it is found that a portion of the population continues to harbor sexist beliefs. This work aims to analyze, from a gender perspective, the effect of a series of personal characteristics on the prediction of sexist beliefs in a sample of college students in Spain (N = 2,112, 63.6% women and 36.4% men). To evaluate the degree of sexism, the short version of the Ambivalent Sexism Scale (ASI, Expósito, Moya, & Glick, 1998) was used, on which higher scores represent higher levels of sexism (α = .88). Explanatory variables included age, political ideology, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, experiences of victimization, and media consumption. The results indicated that men scored significantly higher than women on the ambivalent sexism scale. In addition, higher scores were found for men on the subscales of both hostile and benevolent sexism. On the other hand, the results showed that conservative ideologies and religious faith predict more sexist attitudes in both men and women. However, it was found that the effect of age, political ideology, and sexual orientation depends on the participant’s gender. These results will contribute to the development of educational programs aimed at young people, facilitating the identification of particularly vulnerable groups and areas that require special attention.