Analysis of Adolescent Profiles by Gender: Strengths, Attitudes toward Violence and Sexism

The present study analyzes the profiles of boys and girls, considering gender, in the early stages of adolescence in the variables of character strengths, attitudes toward diversity and violence, and sexism. The aim is to explore the gender differences, whether the variables in each set differ from one another and whether these differences are maintained in profiles for boys and girls. The participants were 527 students (mean age = 12.21 and SD = 0.53) from the city of Malaga (Spain). Profile analysis was used to analyze data. The results, using an alpha of 0.0021 for each contrast, indicate that boys and girls differ in their character strengths, particularly in the case of girls, whose prominent strengths relate to pro-social behavior and peer relationships, where Cohen's d are higher than .30. Moreover, boys justify attitudes of violence to a greater extent (Cohen's d from .44 to .81) and show greater agreement with sexist beliefs (d = .63). The research suggests that it would be of interest to encourage advancement in character strengths at this age.