Infants' Responses to Gender‐Inconsistent Events

Serbin, Lisa A.; Poulin‐Dubois, Diane; Eichstedt, Julie A.

doi:10.1207/s15327078in0304_07

Cited by 51 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…However, mothers of girls engaged in "other interaction" significantly more than did mothers of boys, usually in the form of the mothers comforting and hugging their daughters. These different behaviors further contribute to the gender norms and expectations that boys are supposed to be independent and strong, whereas girls are supposed to display emotion and be dependent upon other people (Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, & Eichstedt, 2002). Girls were reinforced with comfort and a sense of security for engaging with their mothers, and boys were not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Clearfield

Nelson

2006

Sex Roles

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In this study, we analyzed mothers' speech and play behavior with their 6-, 9-, and 14-monthold sons and daughters. Thirty-six infant-mother dyads participated in a 10-min free-play session with gender-neutral toys. No sex differences were found in the infants' behavior, but sex differences were found in mothers' verbal behavior and level of engagement. Mothers of daughters made more interpretations and engaged in more conversation with their daughters, whereas mothers of sons made more comments and attentionals, which were typified by instructions rather than conversation. Furthermore, mothers interacted more with their daughters than with their sons across all ages. Overall, these results demonstrate that mothers transmit different messages to their male and female infants, both through language and interaction, which may contribute to infants' gender role development. KEY WORDS: gender socialization; infant development; infant gender; play; parent-infant interaction.Most developmental theorists acknowledge socialization as at least a contributing factor to the development of gender differences in children. For example, social learning theory posits that children learn behavior through reinforcement and modeling (Bandura & Walters, 1963;Mischel, 1966). With respect to gendered behavior, children might be praised for behaving in "gender-appropriate" ways (e.g., girls playing with dolls, and boys playing with trucks), and scolded for behaving in "genderinappropriate" ways (e.g., girls playing with trucks, and boys playing with dolls). Similarly, gender role socialization theory posits that different people and objects in a child's environment provide rewards and models that then cause the children to shape their behavior to fit with gender norms (e.g., Block, 1973). Gender-schema theory uses these same principles of social learning to explain how people acquire masculine and feminine gender categories, and what characteristics and behaviors people associate with those categories (Bem, 1981).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Clearfield

Nelson

2006

Sex Roles

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“…First, during the toddler and preschool years, children begin learning about gender-related characteristics. Empirical studies have found that children develop the awareness for gender role appropriateness as early as their second birthday (e.g., Serbin et al 2002). In the second phase, 4-to 5-year-olds are rapidly learning to distinguish, value, and internalize the gender cues for maleness and femaleness.…”

Section: Learning Gender Stereotypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coloring Within the Lines: Gender Stereotypes in Contemporary Coloring Books

Fitzpatrick

McPherson

2009

Sex Roles

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Extensive research on print media for children such as storybooks reveals that gender stereotypes are prevalent; however, no systematic analysis of coloring books has been conducted since 1974. We analyzed 889 characters in 56 contemporary coloring books published in the United States and selected through stratified random sampling from one region of California, coding for prevalence of each gender, stereotypic gender roles, activity level, type, and age of character. As hypothesized, males were more active; gender stereotypes were common. Gender neutral behaviors were more likely to be done by males. Females were more likely to be depicted as children and humans; whereas males were mostly depicted as animals, adults, and superheroes. Results are discussed in terms of gender schema theory.

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“…Gender stereotypes and their use in the understanding of the social world can be observed in the study of toys due to precocity of gender preference in the developmental age. It seems that children, at 18 months of age, choose stereotypical toys according to gender (e.g., Powlishta, Sen, Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, & Eichstedt, 2001;Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, Colburne, Sen, & Eichstedt, 2001) and, by 2 years old, acquire some knowledge of the gender stereotyping of masculine and feminine activities and prefer to play with toys judged to pertain to their own sex rather than with neutral toys or stereotypical toys for the opposite sex (e.g., Martin, Eisenbud, & Rose, 1995;Leinbach, Hort, & Fagot, 1997;Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, & Eichstedt, 2002). Children, between 3 and 6 years old, appear to have better memories for information consistent with gender-type than for information inconsistent with gender-type (Liben & Bigler, 2002), and also for toys and activities labeled or stereotyped for their own, relative to the opposite sex (Cherney & London, 2003;Cherney, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toys, Sociocognitive Traits, and Occupations: Italian Children's Endorsement of Gender Stereotypes

Caroli

Sagone

2007

Psychol Rep

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In a sample of 136 Italian children ages 8 to 12 years (M = 9.6, SD = 1.2; 68 boys, 68 girls), gender stereotypes related to gender-typed toys, traits, and occupational choices were examined, using the forced-choice technique between a male and a female silhouette. Stereotypy was established considering boys' and girls' choices for the 70%-100% range. Differences in gender stereotyping for age and sex of participants were verified. Analysis indicated children attributed toys prevalently connected with aesthetic aspect and domestic activities to the female silhouette, while technology, warfare, locomotion, and construction toys were attributed to the male. Children attributed physical and verbal aggressiveness and dominance to the male silhouette; the female profile was exclusively characterized by sweetness. The occupational stereotypical male model was structured in both practical-manual activities and of highly cultural and specialist relevance, while for the female model the number of activities, mainly of a domestic type, were reduced. Significant main effect of sex of children was found, but no significant age-related differences in the three domains. Results were discussed within the framework of gender-stereotype theories.

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Infants' Responses to Gender‐Inconsistent Events

Cited by 51 publications

References 15 publications

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Coloring Within the Lines: Gender Stereotypes in Contemporary Coloring Books

Toys, Sociocognitive Traits, and Occupations: Italian Children's Endorsement of Gender Stereotypes

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