Deviant Gender Role Behavior in Children

Abstract

Deviant gender role behavior, reviewed in this issue by Bakwin, presents the practicing pediatrician with an infrequent but generally difficult, frustrating clinical problem–difficult because so little is known about the genesis of such disorders and frustrating because the effectiveness of one's therapeutic efforts is so difficult to assess. There are no data on the incidence of such gender role problems as effeminacy in boys; indeed, there are few reports of any kind related to this problem. Although it is suggested that there is a significant relationship of adult homosexuality to deviant gender role behavior in children, there are no hard data to support this inference.