Parents' and teachers' perceptions of personality traits of young children: Sex differences¹, cross‐cultural comparisons and relations with observed behaviour

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the relations between observational and Q‐sort data on the behaviour of 4‐year‐olds in two societies. The subjects were 161 (82 girls and 79 boys) preschool children. Children's perceived traits were assessed independently by mother, father and teacher by a modified Block Q‐sort. Six composite variables were derived from combined scores: cooperation, friendly, aggression, self‐control, unfocused and inhibition. Focal child observations were carried out during free play in preschool (120 observation periods over eight separate 30‐minute sessions). Behavioural variables which differentiated between girls and boys were summed to give four sex‐typical interaction measures. The Q‐sort data fitted with the behavioural data in yielding two groups of variables, one female‐typical and one male‐typical. Teachers' Q‐sorts reflected behaviour in preschool more accurately than those of parents. Budapest parents appeared to be more stereotypical in their perceptions of sex differences than Cambridge parents. More specifically: (a) parents perceived their children as more friendly and less inhibited than teachers perceived them; (b) parents in Budapest viewed their children as more cooperative and less unfocused than parents in Cambridge viewed theirs, but there were no such differences between teachers. Girls were more cooperative than boys, while boys were more unfocused; (c) boys were rated as more aggressive than girls, but Cambridge girls were rated as more aggressive by parents than by teachers; (d) girls were perceived as more self‐controlled than boys, and in Cambridge more so by teachers than by parents. It is suggested that the Q‐sort data depend not only on differences in behaviour but also on differences in values and how children are perceived in each culture and in each context (e.g. school vs. home) within that culture.

Who Should Report Abnormal Behavior at Preschool Age? The Case of Behavioral Inhibition

“…This does not mean that one or both of these groups should be viewed as invalid informants, given that they are likely to provide different views of the same phenomenon. In the face of these results, some authors have suggested that multiple sources should be consulted to obtain a full picture of a child's behavior [52][53][54].…”

“…As predicted by the Attribution Bias Context Model and according to previous research [52][53][54], parents and teachers are expected to agree more on symptoms that are observable (e.g., behavioral avoidance, facial expression of fear) and less on symptoms that are unobservable or subjectively expressed (e.g., passive avoidance, behavioral blocking, inferred difficulties). This prediction relates to our third hypothesis, which led us to analyze parent-teacher agreement for manifest behavior versus internal states, discrete signs versus general inferred states, active versus passive responses, and direct (abnormal behavior) versus inverse items of BI.…”

Sex differences in direct aggression: What are the psychological mediators?

“…Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) concluded that girls show higher levels of obedience. Recent work on effortful control has consistently substantiated this conclusion (Eisenberg et al, 2001;Eisenberg et al, 2004;Gervai, Turner & Hinde, 1993;Kochanska & Aksan, 1995;Kochanska et al, 2001;Kochanska & Knaack, 2003;Kochanska et al, 2000;Kochanska et al, 1997;Kochanska et al, 1996;Liew et al, 2004, Olson, Schilling & Bates, 1999Valiente et al 2003). Bjorklund and Kipp's (1996) narrative review of childhood sex differences in resistance to temptation, found a moderate female advantage with 6 out of 11 studies favouring girls.…”

“…Similar evolutionary predictions would apply to behavioral inhibition, although the prediction of schematic and role theories in this domain is unclear since inhibitory processes are not readily visible and hence not directly available for integration into gender schemata or stereotypes. One cross-national study using ratings and observations of 4 year old children in Britain and Hungary found sex differences, but not cultural differences, in self control favouring girls (Gervai et al, 1993). Further multi-national studies will be critical in examining the cultural specificity or universality of sex differences in inhibition.…”

Do Swedish mothers have sex-stereotyped expectations and wishes regarding their own children?

“…The questionnaire consisted of 33 statements concerning behaviours where there might be differences between girls and boys (Hall and Halberstadt, 1980;Boldizar, 1991;Gervai et al, 1993). Fifteen statements concerned games, interests and other activities, and 18 statements concerned friends and other relationships (see Table 1).…”