Dimensions and correlates of third through eighth graders' sex-role self-concepts

The sex-role self-concepts of 238 third- through eighth-grade children were assessed by means of a modified Bem Sex Role Inventory. Most children's sex-role self-concepts were congruent with their biological sex, although a large portion of the sample was categorized as having androgynous self-concepts (33.98% of males and 31.11% of females). The frequency of cross-sex-role self-concepts was very low. The stability of children's sex-role self-concepts was evidenced by nonsignificant developmental trends in the percentage of children classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. The relationship between children's sex-role self-concept and general self-concept, occupational stereotyping, frequency of TV watching, and a variety of parent-rated behaviors was also explored. While some developmental trends and sex differences occurred, sex-role self-concept was nonsignificantly related to these variables. Results are discussed in terms of the usefulness of the sex-role self-concept, particularly androgyny, as a developmental construct.The authors would like to thank the children and parents of St. Helen's Grammar School for their cooperation, and Karen Hyde, Jeff Wilbert, and Jill Tschopp for their help in data collection and analysis.     

Children's construction of fantasy stories: Gender differences in conflict resolution strategies

While much work has been done on sex role development in children, conflict resolution, and sex role stereotyping in literature and television, little research has investigated conflict resolution and stereotyping in the fantasies children create themselves. The present study, analyzing gender differences in children's writing of fantasy stories, found significant differences in conflict resolutions they created. Boys used more violent resolutions to solve problems, while girls used more reasoning and analysis. Stories written by both sexes were—more often than not—sex role stereotyped, with female characters in traditional occupations and passive activities.The authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance received for this research from the Graduate School Faculty Research Grant at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.     

The development of occupational sex-role stereotypes: The effects of gender stability and age

This study investigated occupational sex-role stereotypes of nursery school, kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade children, and the effects of their acquiring gender constancy, specifically the concept of gender stability. Two types of occupational attitudes were assessed: (1) personal aspirations (PA) and (2) ideas about jobs men and women do. The latter were determined using the Occupations Survey (OS). Children chose stereotyped occupations for themselves even before they had a concept of gender stability. Boys' personal aspiration responses were more stereotyped than girls'. On the Occupations Survey, gender-stable nursery schoolers' responses were more stereotyped than those of the nonstable children; and a significant effect for age was found, with stereotyping decreasing among third graders and sixth graders. No sex differences were found on the OS. Differences in the two areas of occupational attitudes suggested two processes of learning sex roles. Social learning more readily accounts for the early stereotyped answers on the PA. Cognitive developmental theory is congruent with the OS scores of the nursery school children.     

Sex Role Expectations in Children's Vocational Aspirations and Perceptions of Occupations

To study sex role expectations, 120 boys and girls from three age groups—preschool, second grade, and fifth grade—in two socioeconomic levels were asked to name their vocational aspirations and to choose whether a man, woman, or both could do the work in 30 occupations depicted in a slide-tape series. Results indicated that sex typing was present in the way their aspirations conformed to traditional sex roles, with a significant relationship (p <.001) between sex typing of aspirations and sex of the respondents. Significant differences in responses to the occupational slides were found on the variables of sex (p <.01), grade level (p <.001), and socioeconomic level (p <.05), with greater sex typing indicated by boys than girls, by preschool children than by older children, and by lower to lower-middle class children than by middle to upper-middle class children. The study revealed a disparity between many children's perceptions of occupations as ones in which both sexes could work and their own personalized, sex-typed aspirations.     

Student Characteristics Associated with Girls�� Success in a Single-sex School

Given the mixed results of previous studies on the benefits of single-sex schooling, scholars have called for research on differences in the effects of single-sex schooling based on student and school characteristics. We sought to examine the associations of a range of student characteristics with attitudes and achievement among students attending an all-girls public middle school in the southwestern United States. Predictor variables included demographic factors (i.e., race, family income), prior academic achievement, gender stereotyping, and gender identity (i.e., gender typicality, peer preferences). Prior academic achievement predicted later achievement and persistence in the single-sex school. School-related stereotyping was associated with success in and connection to the single-sex school; school connection was also a significant moderator of the relation between stereotyping and academic performance. Gender-typed peer preferences were associated with school connection and persistence. Overall, results indicate that student characteristics, as well as issues of ??fit?? with the specific school, are associated with students?? connection to and success in single-sex educational environments.     

Nonsexist curricula,sex of teacher,and children's sex-role learning

This study examined the impact of nonsexist curricula and teacher's sex on children's sex role learning. Thirty-two boys and 32 girls, aged three to five, were equally divided among four programs: nonsexist curriculum, female director; nonsexist curriculum, male director; control curriculum, female director; and control curriculum, male director. Sex role discrimination and preference were measured at the beginning and end of a six-month period. Exposure to the nonsexist curriculum produced significantly greater reductions in sex stereotyping on all measures than exposure to the control curriculum. Moreover, children in the male-directed nonsexist program displayed greater decreases in stereotypic knowledge and preference for sex-typed children's activities than those in the female-directed nonsexist program, while children in the male-directed control program showed more stereotypic increases on these measures than their counterparts in the female-directed control program. Finally, children under the direction of an opposite-sex teacher exhibited less stereotypic changes in preference for adult activities than children under the direction of a same-sex teacher. Implications for early childhood programs are discussed.This research was partially supported by an Oregon State University Foundation grant from the Shell Foundation and a grant from the Milne Computer Center.     

Dick and jane in 1989

This study is a replication of the 1972 study Dick and Jane as Victims done by Women on Words and Images. The original study examined 134 children's readers, and found sex stereotyping in both number of times males and females appeared, and the activities in which they were shown. The replication is a content analysis of 62 children's readers in use in 1989 to determine if males and females were still shown in sex-stereotyped roles. It was found that although there are still differences in the rate of portrayal for males and females, and in the variety of roles assigned to each, the differences are not as pronounced as they were in 1972.     

Race and the workforce: occupational status,aspirations, and stereotyping among African American children

This study examined whether African American children's perceptions of occupational status and their own vocational interests are affected by racial segregation of the workforce. Children (N = 92) rated familiar occupations with respect to status, desirability, and stereotyping. Children also rated novel jobs that had been depicted with African Americans, European Americans, or both African and European Americans. As predicted, for familiar jobs, children's judgments were linked to their knowledge of racial segregation of these jobs. In addition, novel occupations that had been depicted with African Americans were judged as lower in status than the identical occupations that had been depicted with European Americans, demonstrating a causal influence of workers' race on children's judgments. Children's age and socioeconomic background moderated their occupational judgments.     

Sex-role stereotyping in English usage

This study identified children's perception of sex differences in the areas of language usage and occupational roles. The survey instrument used consisted of 28 items. Each item was a pair of statements identical except for one word or phrase. One statement was definitely male or female according to the literature. The other statement was either neutral or one that would be said by the other sex. Subjects were asked to identify statements that would be said by a man on one section of the instrument. They were asked to identify statements that would be said by a woman on the other section. Subjects consisted of 121 children from an inner city school in a low socio-economic area in north central Florida. The children composed five classrooms in grades one through five. One classroom was randomly selected from each grade level. The results indicate that children perceive differences both between the language usage of men and women, and between the conception of occupational roles traditionally assigned to each sex.     

Gender Stereotyping of Children's Toys: A Comparison of Parents and Nonparents

Parents and nonparents were compared to examinedifferences in the use of gender stereotyping toclassify children's toys. Gender-stereotyping was alsoexamined based on the age of the child. Parents and nonparents were sampled from a predominantlywhite, middle and upper middle class population.Subjects rated the appropriateness of 206 toys for useby girls and/or boys and were in general agreementregarding toys identified as gender-stereotyped. Ingeneral, feminine toys were stereotyped more thanmasculine toys although parents were more gender neutralin their ratings of toys than nonparents. Comparisons across mothers and fathers suggest thatinteractions with children may influence parentalperceptions of gender-appropriateness differentially formothers and fathers and is partly dependent on the sex of the child(ren). Finally, it appears thatwhile toys are gender stereotyped for all age groups,there is more flexibility in gender stereotyping of toysfor infants and toddlers.     

大学生内隐职业性别刻板印象研究

采用内隐联想测验和刻板解释偏差两种测量内隐社会认知的方法考察了60名大学生被试的内隐职业性别刻板印象。结果表明,大学生也存在非常明显的内隐职业性别刻板印象,刻板程度在性别、专业上没有显著差异。在男女职业评价刻板印象上,男大学生表现出非常明显的刻板印象,女大学生的观念已有所改变。用内隐联想测验和刻板解释偏差测量这两种方法测量大学生的内隐职业性别刻板印象,在被试的性别变量上得到的结果不一致。     

The development of the concepts of masculinity and femininity in young children

Sex-role concepts in 140 children aged 3 to 7 were assessed by means of an instrument that allowed children to categorize attributes as being characteristic of males only, females only, both males and females, or nobody. The children sorted attributes once for adult peer stimulus figures and once for peer stimulus figures. The relationship of gender conservation to the degree of stereotyping of children's response was also investigated. The overlap children saw between characteristics of males and females increased with age over the age span studied. Girls were less sex-typed than boys, particularly those girls whose mothers were employed. Gender conservation was associated with decreased sex-typing. The tendency of children to assign positive attributes to their own sex and negative attributes to the other sex peaked at age 5. Subjects overall were less sex-typed in their views of adults than peers.     

儿童资源获取行为对学校适应的影响——一个历时5年的跨文化追踪

以160名中国儿童和133名加拿大儿童为被试,采用实验室观察和问卷调查,考察儿童7岁时的资源获取行为对其11岁时学校适应的影响。结果表明：（1）轮流规则行为对儿童的学校适应具有消极的预测作用,且存在性别差异：男孩的轮流规则行为可以显著正向预测其焦虑,女孩的轮流规则行为可以显著负向预测其学校态度;（2）请求行为可以显著正向预测中国儿童攻击行为,加拿大儿童则没有发现该关系;（3）对于资源获取失败次数少的儿童,求助成人行为有积极的适应意义;（4）儿童资源获取行为的结果在儿童7岁时资源获取行为与11岁时学校适应之间发挥调节作用;对于资源获取成功次数少的儿童,请求行为可以显著地正向预测其攻击行为;对于资源获取失败次数少的儿童,请求行为则显著地负向预测其攻击行为,求助成人行为可以显著地负向预测其孤独感。     

Gender Differences in Emotional Language in Children's Picture Books

Numerous examinations of children's picturebooks have found that they are gender biased againstfemales in terms of character prevalence in titles,pictures and central role, and in the type of activities engaged in by characters. This study examineda differentpotential area of gender stereotyping, genderdifferences in emotional language. Books that were readto/by a sample of primarily Caucasian preschool children during a one-week period were examinedfor evidence of stereotyping. Analysis of characterprevalence indicated that males had higherrepresentation in titles, pictures and central role.Contrary to expectation, males and females wereassociated with equal amounts of emotional language. Inaddition, no differences were found in the types ofemotional words associated with males andfemales.     

4～6岁幼儿经济博弈中的信任行为及其影响因素

本研究通过两个实验考察幼儿是否在博弈任务中表现出对陌生人的信任行为,同时考察可能对幼儿的信任产生影响的因素,包括个体认知因素(观点采择)和环境因素(负性反馈和代际传递)。研究对189名4~6岁幼儿及其家长进行多种任务的测量。实验一通过修订Evans和Krugger(2011)的信任博弈任务,考察幼儿在匿名信任博弈中的信任行为,结果发现与4岁幼儿相比,6岁幼儿对他人的信任更低;实验二考察了幼儿信任的影响因素,结果发现,幼儿在得到负性反馈结果后再次进行信任博弈任务时,他们对他人的信任比前次有所降低,6岁幼儿对他人返还数量的预期比4岁幼儿下降程度更大;6岁幼儿的信任行为(第一次给出意愿)与观点采择能力显著相关;6岁幼儿的信任水平与家长的信任水平显著相关。     

Gender bias in children's perceptions of personality traits

Social psychologists have demonstrated that when people are divided into social categories, even ones created arbitrarily, they often display favoritism for members of their own group. The current study used an intergroup perspective on gender to examine sex differences in children's perceptions of personality traits. 167 eight- to ten-year-olds were asked to evaluate 48 traits in terms of either their masculinity versus femininity or their positivity versus negativity. As predicted, children's ratings reflected strong biases favoring their own sex. This ingroup favoritism occurred not because boys and girls preferred traits traditionally associated with their sex. In fact, sex differences on the negativity—positivity ratings were virtually absent. Instead, boys and girls had differing views of the masculinity or femininity of personality traits, assigning more positive and fewer negative traits to their own sex than to the other. Implications for gender segregation and for the development of stereotyping are discussed.I would like to thank Eleanor Maccoby and Lisa Serbin for their feedback on an earlier draft of the paper.     

An Initial Look at Sibling Reports on Children's Behavior: Comparisons with Children's Self-Reports and Relations with Siblings' Self-Reports and Sibling Relationships

The authors examined siblings' reports of children's depression, anxiety, and aggression, and their reports of the sibling relationship, and compared them with children's self-reports. In two samples, including 169 sibling pairs (age M = 9.98 years, SD = 1.51), no significant differences emerged in the levels of depression and anxiety found in siblings' reports of children's behavior and children's self-reports, although siblings reported children to have significantly higher levels of aggression than the children self-reported. Age, the difference in ages between siblings, sex, and sibling sex were not related to siblings' reports of children's behavior. The relations between children's and siblings' reports of children's behavior were significant, yet moderate (average r = .22). Both siblings' self-reports of internalizing behavior and their perceptions of aspects of the sibling relationship (affection, rivalry, hostility, and satisfaction with the sibling relationship) explained significant, and unique, variance in siblings' reports of children's internalizing behavior. The findings for aggressive behavior were similar, although siblings' perceptions of affection in the sibling relationship were not significantly related to their reports of children's aggression. The potential uses and benefits of sibling reports of children's behavior, and sibling and family relationships, are discussed.     

Family Background,Social and Academic Capital,and Adolescents' Aspirations: A Mediational Analysis

In this study a mediational model was constructed to examine relationships between refined measures of childhood and adolescent social capital and the aspirations of adolescents with varying academic capital and from differing social status and ethnic backgrounds. Longitudinal data were collected from 460 16-year-old Australians and their parents from Anglo-Australian, Greek, and Southern Italian groups. Using partial least squares path modeling the findings suggest: (a) family background, childhood social and academic capital, and adolescents' social capital combine to have medium to large associations with adolescents' aspirations, and that the associations are larger for educational aspirations than for occupational aspirations and stronger for males than for females; (b) the mediational model is more successful in explaining family background differences in educational aspirations than variations in occupational aspirations; and (c) after taking into account social and academic capital, Greek males continue to have higher occupational aspirations than do Anglo-Australian and Southern Italian males, and sons of fathers with high social status continue to have higher occupational aspirations than do other male adolescents. The investigation indicates that within encompassing family backgrounds, differences in educational outcomes should be examined in relation to children's and parents' perceptions of social and cultural capital and to variations in children's academic capital.     

教师态度与指导方式对幼儿坚持性影响的实验研究

本研究采用3×2×2(年龄×教师态度×言语指导方式)三因素完全随机实验设计,考察了教师态度和言语指导对3~6岁幼儿坚持性的影响。其中幼儿年龄、教师态度及言语指导方式为实验的自变量,幼儿坚持完成任务的时间为实验因变量,设计4种实验情境,并随机选择沈阳市两所幼儿园,分层选取小、中、大班的幼儿作为实验研究的被试,年龄分布在3~6岁之间,每种情境下每个年龄段的有效被试各为30人,男女各半,共360人。研究结果表明:(1)3~6岁幼儿的坚持性随着年龄的增长而逐渐发展,且4~5岁是幼儿坚持性发展的转折期;(2)不同的教师态度对幼儿的坚持性影响显著;(3)不同的言语指导方式对幼儿坚持性影响显著;(4)教师积极态度下,多次言语指导对幼儿的坚持性会产生最积极的影响。     

Children's recall and recognition of sex role stereotyped and discrepant information

This research investigated the influence of differing levels of sex role stereotyped and discrepant information on immediate and delayed (one week) memory. Specifically, kindergarten and second-grade children's recall and recognition of stereotyped, moderately discrepant, and highly discrepant pictures were compared. In Study 1, a sorting procedure was utilized to determine the level of stereotyping of 34 toys. From this study 12 toys were selected as stimuli for Study 2. In Study 2, children's immediate and delayed recall and recognition was assessed. Results suggested significantly better recall of highly discrepant pictures than stereotyped or moderately discrepant pictures. In addition, immediate recall was better than delayed recall and second-grade recall was better than kindergarten recall. Similar trends emerged with the recognition task. Results were discussed with respect to the schematic processing model.This paper represents a joint collaborative effort on the part of the authors. The authors wish to thank the principals, teachers, and children who participated in the study; the child models; the student research assistants; the photographer, Martha Putt; and the statistical consultant, Joseph Kropp.