In the ethnopsychological approach, historic-sociocultural premises, which are unquestionable beliefs consensually accepted by a social group, play a key role in the understanding of individual behavior. Based on this approach, the influence of sex and age in the endorsement of premises about the Brazilian family was investigated. The sample consisted of 393 individuals of both sexes distributed in four age groups who answered a Brazilian version of the Mexican Family Structure Questionnaire. Men demonstrated greater acceptance of the premises associated with male dominance, traditional family values, and female virginity than women. Women showed greater endorsement of the premises related to female abnegation than men. No differences among age groups were observed. It was concluded that although Brazilian society has been changing, values and beliefs about the family introjected by men and youngsters have not changed yet.
Historic-sociocultural premises; family beliefs; values
