EFFECTS OF MODELING ON THE USE OF NONSEXIST LANGUAGE AMONG HIGH-SCHOOL FRESHPERSONS AND SENIORS

The present study examined how modeling, grade in school, gender and a ttitudes toward women relate to sexist or nonsexist language usage in high school students. Eighty-four female and 60 male high school stude nts, including 77% white, 20% African-American, and 3% ''other'' parti cipants, completed three questionnaires The Sexist Language Detector ( SLD), a 24 item questionnaire, assessed the use of sexist and nonsexis t language by requiring written solutions to ethical dilemmas. Instruc tions on the SLD included either sexist examples, nonsexist examples, or no example (control). The nonsexist examples condition sewed as the modeling intervention. Participants completed the shortened versions of J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich's Personal Attributes Questionnair e of 1978 and Attitudes toward Women Scale of 1972. Multiple regressio n analysis indicated main effects for gender year in school, and condi tion on nonsexist language use. Participants with nonsexist instructio ns used significantly more nonsexist language than the other two group s. No significant difference was found among the three groups on the u se of sexist language. Freshpersons were more likely to use nonsexist language than seniors. Females used more nonsexist language than males .