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25 November

Teenagers, one in five think according to gender stereotypes

Among girls, less adherence to the stereotyped roles of male and female, greater among boys. The first results of the survey launched by the Musa research group of the CNR-Irpps on a sample of over 3,000 male and female students in the first year of high schools in Rome

by Barbara Nepitelli

24 November 2025

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Gender stereotypes are still very deep-rooted among adolescents: the first data (on 2025) of the project on 'Interactional changes and well-being' initiated by the Musa research group of the CNR-Irpps, showed that in 17.8% of cases there is a high adherence to gender stereotypes, in 44.5% a medium adherence, in 36.6% a low adherence while it is absent in only 1.1%. This means that, in these percentages, boys and girls share "opinions regarding the relationship between men and women that imply a subordination of the latter to the former on the basis of the belief in the existence of 'natural' social gender roles that primarily assign men the tasks of command, power and income production while women in particular the burdens of care and assistance, especially domestic care. The survey was conducted on a sample of 3,068 male and female first-year high school students from 25 schools in Rome.

Girls ahead of boys in overcoming stereotypes

Differences emerge between boys and girls: for the former, high adherence is 28% compared to 4% for the latter, while average adherence exceeds 50% (more precisely 51% compared to 36.1% for girls) and is finally low for 20.4% of boys compared to 58% of girls.

The research launched in 2024 will cover a period of five years and provides further details: the medium-high level of gender stereotypes was found more in technical schools (75.1% vs. 66.1% in vocational schools and 51.4% in high schools), among those with a migrant background (70.8% vs. 61.3% of Italians) and among those with a low family cultural status (71.1% vs. 52.4% of those with a high one).

The close link between stereotypes and gender violence

The head of the interdisciplinary group Musa, Antonio Tintori, when asked about the link between the persistence of gender stereotypes in young people and the increase in sexual harassment and violence among young people, believes that the attitudes and behaviours that trigger gender stereotypes 'are still not really recognised'. These stereotypes "are by no means easy to expel" because "they are inoculated in us from the earliest years of life and mostly through the people who most emotionally involve us, i.e. in the family". And 'as long as the generational reproduction of gender stereotypes is not interrupted, we will certainly not be surprised by the violence that continually feeds the ordinary news'.

Hyper-connectedness and increased discomfort among young people

The survey, more generally, explores the issues of hyper-connectedness, online and offline, antisocial and risky behaviour, stereotypes (not just gender) and psychological discomfort, starting from the latest national report on the state of adolescence by the CNR and other studies carried out which, as explained by Tintori during the presentation of the results "have shown that the decay of self-esteem, the growing uncertainty of adolescent identity and the rising levels of anxiety, depression and negative emotions is associated with social media hyperconnection" and "the gradual transfer of interaction from the real to the virtual plane is also amplifying two decidedly relevant phenomena suicidal ideations and social withdrawal'.

The survey data show that girls are more hyper-connected, but they are also the ones with the least self-esteem. 45.7% of male and female students manage to be more sincere in virtual relationships and 20.9% believe that this mode can replace the one in person; only 28.3% of young men manage not to look at their mobile phones all the time when in company. 48.7% of these young people have already isolated themselves at home, in some cases for months, and half of them even more than twice.

15% of teenagers watch pornographic content every day

Still in the area of stereotypes, in this case however deriving from online consumption reflexes, the survey shows that 14.7% of these adolescents use pornographic media content every day, 15.3% two or three times a week, 25.8% between once a week and once or twice a month, while 44.2% are strangers to this use. This consumption started more than three years ago in 29% of cases (i.e. an average of about 11 years), while 38.3% have been accessing this content for at least two years and 32.7% for one year or less. Such consumption, it is explained, generates reinforcing effects regarding the existence of male and female roles even in sexual relations. In fact, 22.7% of the sample (29.1% students and 14.3% female students) are of the opinion that it is the man who should dominate sexual intercourse, whereas only 3% of students and female students attribute this role to the woman. For the remaining 50.6%, however, there is no difference, while 23.7% believe that no one should ever dominate.

The road to change passes through sexual-affective education

What, then, can be the way to bring about change with respect to gender stereotypes? On the one hand, 'parents have a primary role both in the reproduction of gender stereotypes and in the prospect of their demolition' answers Tintori, adding that in order to improve the situation 'it is necessary to reinvigorate the social role of schools. Only at school can the asymmetries that are acquired during socialisation in the primary group, the family, be counterbalanced. There is, however, an obvious need not only for funds but above all for training, as well as for understanding that today it is not so much the ordinary didactics that is a problem,' he adds, 'but rather the human and social side of the school, the educational side that is highly neglected. And here is the urgency of sexual, affective and emotional education, in a world of young people increasingly pervaded by alexithymia and thus by the inability to recognise the feelings they have, by the collapse of self-esteem and the rising levels of anxiety and depression that are the result of hyper-connectedness and an existential crisis fuelled by the rarefaction of human relations in the real world that is disproportionately increasing cases of social isolation (hikikomori effect), self-harm and suicidal ideations'.