Content of teachers' stereotypes about adolescents

Abstract

Discourse on 'problematic behavior' of the young in adolescence period is often present in lay, media, professional and scientific public. In this research, we performed empirical testing of the psychological concept of 'storm and stress', which is manifested by stereotypes about adolescents as rebels. The goal was to establish whether teachers hold stereotypes about younger adolescents as a social group and what the content of the stereotype is. Research participants were 193 teachers teaching the seventh grade in ten Belgrade primary schools. Factor analysis method established the presence of several factors, which reflect the psychological content and meaning of teachers' stereotypes about younger adolescents. The results of our research point out: (a) that stereotypes of teachers about younger adolescents stand in partial correspondence with the content of a widely distributed concept of 'storm and stress'; (b) that this concept is mostly loaded with a negative perception of pupils on the part of teachers and (c) that teachers less often perceive pupils through the prism of some positive qualities. That is, teachers think that these positive qualities are not 'typical' qualities of adolescents if they are observed as a group. Interviewed teachers hold stereotypes about younger adolescents, but intensity and valence of stereotypes vary depending on the nature of obtained factors.

Keywords

• stereotypes
• teachers
• adolescents
• primary school