Stereotypes, Stigma, and Status: Results from the Adolescent Media & Identity Project (Free Lunchtime Seminar)

The Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) continues its fall
lunchtime seminar series October 31st with “Stereotypes, Stigma, and Status:
Results from the Adolescent Media & Identity Project,” presented by Linda
Charmaraman, Ph.D., and Bernice Chan.

In this presentation,
Charmaraman will discuss the results from the Media & Identity Project,
which was conducted to get a better understanding of  how different types of media (i.e. social and
televised) impact young people's sense of social identities. Targeting young
people purposively recruited through outreach to schools, non-school
organizations, Facebook, and blogs, the sample consisted of over 1,900
individuals aged 13-25 from across the country and abroad. Study findings found
significant gender, race, and sexual orientation differences on how one uses
media technology to deal with stressful days, and how one reacts to media that
is exclusionary or stereotypical on one or more social identities.

Charmaraman will provide
an overview of explicit procedures to design and implement culturally sensitive
online surveys, with the main goal of targeting and recruiting diverse,
hard-to-reach populations of youth nationwide using novel recruitment
procedures. These findings increase understanding about how media and social
networking can affect vulnerable adolescents; psychological health and sense of
identity, particularly through negative media images that carry stigma for
vulnerable populations.

Lunchtime seminars are held Thursdays, 12:30-1:30
p.m. This lunchtime seminar will be held in Room 413 at the LuLu Chow Wang
Campus Center at Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA. The
program is free and open to the public. Guests are invited to bring their lunches,
WCW will provide tea and coffee. To confirm program line-up, call 781 283 2500 or visit www.wcwonline.org/calendar.

The Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley
College is one of the largest gender-focused research-and-action organizations
in the world. Scholars at the Centers conduct social science research and
evaluation, develop theory and publications, and implement training and action programs
on issues that put women’s lives and women’s concerns at the center. Since
1974, WCW’s work has generated changes in attitudes, practices, and public
policy.