Myths of romantic love and ambivalent sexism in adolescents

The aim of this work was to analyze the prevalence of sexism and myths of romantic love among adolescents, as well as the relationship between both variables and their stability depending on age. 900 adolescents from public schools, of which 53.4 % were girls, between 13 and 17 years old, with an average of 15.2, completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the Love Myths Scale. The main results indicated that the scores differ between boys and girls, especially in the case of sexism, a variable in which the boys' scores were much higher than that of the girls. In relation to myths of romantic love, girls scored higher in myths related to the idealization of love, and boys in those that link love and abuse. Gender differences were found in the relationship between both variables and with age, although the prevalence does not vary much over time. It was concluded that factors such as pornography consumption, the proliferation of denialist ideas of gender violence and the absence of adequate affective-sexual education could be behind these results. It seems necessary to implement actions, from all areas, to ensure that adolescents internalize egalitarian values.