The Relationship between virtual social networks usage and gender role attitude in university students of Iran

Background & aim: Gender role attitude is one of the key issues affecting the stability of family foundation, which is under the influence of mass media. New media and the process of globalization are effective in promoting gender equality, and an example of modern media is virtual social networks. This study aimed to determine the relationship between virtual social media usage and gender role attitude in the students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 909 students of two large universities including Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. Data were collected using three questionnaires enquiring the demographic data, type of social media students used, and gender role attitude. The questionnaires were sent to the students via email, or they were filled out them through face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was performed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and Spearman correlation coefficient in SPSS software, version 23. Results: There was no significant relationship between the type of social media and gender role attitude (P=0.24). Furthermore, no significant relationship was observed between the type of social media and the dimensions of gender role attitude including gender equality and gender stereotypes (P=0.35 and P=0.24, respectively). Conclusion: There was no significant relationship between the type of social media and gender role attitude and its dimensions. Accordingly, it seems that the content used by these networks had no impact on the gender role attitudes of the users. Further studies are recommended to investigate the other possible factors affecting gender role attitudes.