Princess Culture Inspires Strong Young Adults, Study Says
In a swift turn on previous studies, researcher Sarah Coyne’s recent work proved that exposure to Disney princess culture may influence children in positive ways after all.
“Princess culture gives women key storylines where they’re the protagonist,” Coyne said in a recent interview published by Brigham Young University. Coyne is a faculty member there. “They’re following their dreams, helping those around them, and becoming individuals who aren’t prescribed a role because of their gender.”
Long accused of perpetuating gender stereotypes, Disney’s new set of princesses appear to be breaking with the norms previously concerning researchers like Coyne.
This most recent study published by Coyne and her colleagues represents the longest study to date on the subject. Specifically, the data suggested that children who engaged with “princess culture were more likely to later hold progressive views about women and subscribe less to attitudes of toxic masculinity,” according to the BYU release.
Reversing Opinion on Princess Culture
Previously, Coyne published the blistering 2016 study that warned parents to avoid Disney princess culture due to its perpetuation of harmful stereotypes perpatuated among preschool-aged girls.
“I think parents think that the Disney Princess culture is safe. That’s the word I hear time and time again—it’s ‘safe. But if we’re fully jumping in here and really embracing it, parents should really consider the long-term impact of the princess culture,” Coyne remarked five years ago.
Now, Coyne commented that she finds princess culture to offer some “deep and beautiful” perspectives on the female experience and reltaionships.
“If we can grasp onto that, it can be truly healing for humanity,” she said in the release.
The most recent study tracked the original 300 participants as they matured from preschoolers to adolescents. Also published in the journal Child Development, the new study found that the long-term impact of princess culture certainly experienced a complete reversal compared to the earlier study.
Princess Culture’s Positive Influences
“Our prior study found that in the short-term, princess culture had a negative effect. But this changes over time. We’re now seeing long-term positive effects of princess culture on how we think about gender,” she said in the release.
More progressive views about women were not the only difference in viewpoints held by those with more exposure to the collection of Disney heroines. A positive perspective on educational opporutnities, career equality, and strong relationships also showed more dominantly in those exposed to princess culture at an early age.
Most importantly, princess culture exposure also led to people less likely to adhere to traits associated with toxic masculinity. The children also showed more emotional acceptance and awareness, specifically in boys.
“Boys who are exposed to princess culture earlier in life tend to do a better job expressing emotion in their relationships,” Coyne said in the BYU release. “Rather than shutting down their feelings or feeling like they should fight someone who challenges them, they can express their emotions in non-violent ways.”
With an emphasis on standing up for one’s beliefs and becoming who one wants to be, princess culure appears to bring far more positives than previosly thought. According to Coyne’s work, better body image, fairer attitudes, and staying true character rest among the incredible lessons learned within the culture.
Co-authored by Savannah Keenan-Kroff, McCall Booth, Jennifer Ruh Linder, Jane Shawcroft, and Chongming Yang, the study certainly bolsters the multi-billion dollar industry that is Disney Princess.
In fact, the work also proved that Disney’s efforts in 2016 to rebrand Disney Princess marketing clearly paid off.
With empowering characters and storylines, including “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Frozen,” “Frozen 2,” and “Moana,” the Walt Disney Co. certainly added their fair share of strong female protagonists to the narrative as well over the past five years.
During this year’s “Ultimate Disney Princess Celebration,” it’s no doubt that this generation of young ladies will certainly embrace the mantra: “Dream big, Princess!”
Feautre Image Credit: IMDB