Carrie R. Underwood’s research while affiliated with University of Nevada, Las Vegas and other places

This entry provides an overview of sexism and gender stereotyping in two critical domains of adolescent development: academics and romantic relationships. In the section focusing on academics, the coverage mainly centers on inequities that adolescent girls experience in math‐related fields of study; however, there is also discussion of the academic challenges that boys from marginalized groups encounter. The section focusing on romantic relationships details the ways in which hostile sexism and benevolent sexism shape heterosexual dating norms, expectations, and practices. The entry concludes with a discussion of implications and future directions, which emphasizes the importance of interventions that are sensitive to adolescents' membership in multiple social categories.

Despite the recent expansion of marriage rights within the U.S., relatively little is known about marriage-related practices among people in same-sex relationships. The current study extends prior research by investigating marital surname preferences in a large, sociodemographically diverse sample of U.S. adults in same-sex relationships. Participants (N = 179) described their surname preferences in an open-ended format. Thematic analysis revealed that many participants were open to making some type of marital surname change. When explaining their surname preferences, participants often cited their desire to unite the whole family under the same surname. Importantly, however, quantitative analyses illustrated that surname preferences significantly varied according to sociodemographic background characteristics such as age. Collectively, findings suggest a possible generational shift in surname preferences among individuals in same-sex relationships.

The tradition of the wife adopting her husband’s surname continues to be widely endorsed within the U.S. and many other nations. The current research focuses on perceptions of heterosexual women who violate this tradition. Specifically, we examined how women who retain their surname are evaluated with respect to their marriage commitment and personality attributes. We also tested for sources of individual variation in these evaluations. Three studies were carried out with a total of 1201 undergraduates (912 women and 289 men) at two U.S. universities. Participants in Study 1 rated a woman who retained her surname as lower in marriage commitment than a woman who adopted her husband’s surname. They also allocated her a high proportion of agentic traits. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that both women and men high in social dominance orientation (SDO) were especially likely to rate a woman who retained her surname as lower in marriage commitment. Collectively, findings indicate that women who violate the marital surname tradition may encounter negative stereotypes about their marriage commitment and that these stereotypes may be particularly likely to originate from people with a preference for group-based inequality. Implications center on links between marriage traditions and broader patterns of gender inequality.