Children's perception of gender-role-congruent and -incongruent behavior in peers: Fisher-price meets price waterhouse

Peer Processes and Gender Role Development: Changes in Gender Atypicality Related to Negative Peer Treatment and Children’s Friendships

“…Consistent with the stereotype-activation hypothesis, peer maltreatment among girls with many female friends may not be attributed to gender atypical characteristics. This pattern of findings also speaks to the general finding within the gender development literature that girls experience less felt pressure to conform to gender norms than boys do (Carter and McCloskey 1984;Fagot 1977;Katz and Walsh 1991;McAninch et al 1996;Rachkowski and O'Grady 1988 gender nonconformity is seen as a social liability, particularly given the infrequency of cross-sex friendships during childhood (Kovacs et al 1996).…”

“…Support for this proposition comes from research examining children's responses to displays of gender atypical behavior (e.g., Carter and McCloskey 1984;Fagot 1977Fagot , 1984Owen Blakemore 2003). Fagot (1977Fagot ( , 1984 observed that preschool children react negatively to peers' gender nonnormative behavior, and several studies have found that older children respond negatively to hypothetical children described as behaving in gender atypical ways (Carter and McCloskey 1984;McAninch et al 1996;Owen Blakemore 2003;Zucker et al 1995). There is little direct evidence, however, that negative peer feedback results in reduced gender atypicality.…”

“…In their social cognitive theory of gender development, for example, Bussey and Bandura (1999) ascribe multiple socialization functions to peers, including the modeling of gendered characteristics within same-sex peer groups, reinforcement of gender typical behaviors, and sanctioning of deviations from gender norms. Although there is ample evidence from North American samples that children respond negatively to peers who display cross-sex behaviors and characteristics (Carter and McCloskey 1984;Fagot 1977Fagot , 1984Lamb and Roopnarine 1979;McAninch et al 1996;Owen Blakemore 2003) and that children engage predominantly in same-sex play and relationships (Kovacs et al 1996;Maccoby 1998;Martin and Fabes 2001), there is little evidence that these processes impact children's gender role development. The current study begins to address this gap in the empirical literature by examining associations between negative peer treatment, engagement in same-sex and cross-sex friendships, and children's gender atypicality.…”

Gendered Leisure Activity Behavior Among Norwegian Adolescents Across Different Socio-Economic Status Groups

“…It has further been suggested that through interactions with others, children experience pressure to conform to gender norms, which may result in a reduction of genderatypical characteristics and greater adherence to gender expectations (Egan & Perry, 2001). Empirical work has furthermore found that children disapprove of peers who engage in gender-atypical behavior (Blakemore, 2003;Carter & McCloskey, 1984;Lobel, 1994;McAninch, Milich, Crumbo, & Funtowicz, 1996), especially gender-atypical boys who have been found to be more prone to adolescent bullying, and also psychological distress (Young & Sweeting, 2004) and lower levels of school adjustment (Ueno & McWilliams, 2010). Adolescence is a vulnerable time, and the felt pressure to participate in activities congruent with their gender may be high.…”

Perfection and Her Sisters: Exploring the Voices of Southland University's Female Undergraduates

“…While research has suggested the existence of internal pressure to conform to gender stereotypes, the anticipation of real or perceived social reactions may be linked with competitiveness for females (Alagna, 1982;Brady, Trafimow, Eisler, & Southard 1996;Eagly, 1992;Fiske, 1991;McAninch, Milich, Crumbo, & Funtowicz, 1996). For example, Alagna (1982) found that women in her study, when given feedback that their peers disapproved of their competitiveness, expressed a decrease in their positive affect.…”