The Gender Specificity of the Images of Spouses in Views of Modern Russian Teenagers

Abstract

Regular large-scale changes, the constant volatility and instability that take place in
Russia at the beginning of the 21st century, and simultaneously the transition to postindustrial society, the emergence of new cultural values of the post-modern era, lead
to the transformation of the family as an integrated system. The image of a future
spouse acquires in this regard a special role. It begins to form in adolescents based on
the model of conjugal relations in the parent family, examples from culture and art,
stereotypes of behavior of men and women. Based on the foregoing, we have
determined as the purpose of our study to analyze the images of spouses (a husband
and a wife) in perceptions of girls and boys of the senior adolescence (14-15 years
old).The revealed data testify the available gender specificity shown in the
contradiction of mutual expectations from the future partner (spouse) and actualize
the problem of providing the timely psychological assistance to adolescents for
overcoming the existing dissonance of role expectations and preparing teenagers for
the family life. The views of older teenagers on the role characteristics of spouses
include both the traditional (gender-stereotyped) qualities and characteristics of the
non-traditional masculinity and femininity. The type of the distribution of the role
responsibilities for the spouses demonstrated by the participants in our study proves
the availability of dissonance caused by traditional ideals and modern tendencies in
the establishment of family relations.