Gender stereotypes and social networks: consumption of influencer-generated content among pre-adolescents and adolescents

Abstract

Internalization of gender stereotypes begins as early as adolescence and preadolescence. Among all the factors involved in their adoption and assimilation, social networks and influencers currently stand out. Given that minors start consuming social network content at a very early age, influencers have become role models for them. Therefore, this research aims to examine the preferences and behaviors of minors on social networks regarding their favorite influencers and to detect to what extent they might reinforce pre-existing gender stereotypes. To this end, a survey (confidence level <95% and ±3.5% sampling error) has been carried out on 800 Spanish minors between 8 and 16 years of age and regular consumers of content generated by influencers. The results showed that boys and girls tend to follow influencers with different profiles, devote unequal amounts of time to this activity, and show preferences for different social networks and different types of content. These results lead to the conclusion that there is a generalized tendency to reproduce behaviors and preferences associated with traditional stereotypes about the male and female genders.