Socialisation Influences on Gender Ideologies of Immigrant and Native Youth in Germany,England, Sweden and the Netherlands

Adolescence is a crucial life course phase for identity formation, and youths’ gender ideologies significantly predict gendered behaviours and longer-term transitions. With Western post-industrial societies becoming more culturally diverse, the present study provides novel cross-nationally comparative evidence on gender socialisation processes among native and immigrant youth in Sweden, Germany, England, and the Netherlands, which vary in gender and migration policies and cultures. In addition to parents’ gender ideologies, the study also considers classmates’ gender ideologies as factors shaping 14-year-old adolescents’ gender ideologies. The analysis draws on 5917 adolescent-parent dyads from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study which we link with country-level gender empowerment measures from the United Nations. Remarkably, with the exception of native female adolescents in England and Germany, parents tend to report slightly more egalitarian beliefs than adolescents across the four countries. OLS regressions show that parents’ and classmates’ gender ideologies correlate significantly with adolescents’ ideologies, with little variation across gender and immigrant groups in all four countries. From a policy and practical point of view, the great similarity in the intergenerational transmission of gender beliefs across diverse family backgrounds as well as cultural and policy contexts seem remarkable.

     

Parents’ Judgments about the Desirability of Toys for Their Children: Associations with Gender Role Attitudes,Gender-typing of Toys,and Demographics

Parental toy selection and responses to toy play are important factors in children’s gender socialization. Reinforcing play with same-gender-typed toys guides children’s activities and limits their action repertoires in accordance with gender stereotypes. A survey of 324 Austrian parents of three- to six-year-old children was conducted to investigate parents’ judgments about the desirability of different types of toys for their children and how these judgements relate to parents’ gender-typing of toys, gender role attitudes, and demographics (age, education, gender). Results show that parents rated same-gender-typed and gender-neutral toys as more desirable for their children than cross-gender-typed toys. The traditionalism of parents’ gender role attitudes was not associated with their desirability judgments of same-gender-typed toys, but was negatively related to their desirability judgments of cross-gender-typed toys. This indicates that egalitarian parents permit a greater range of interests and behaviors in their children than traditional parents do. Younger parents, parents with lower educational levels, and fathers reported more traditional gender role attitudes than did older parents, parents with higher educational levels, and mothers. However, no differences based on age, educational level or gender were found in parents’ judgments of toy desirability. The present study demonstrates that parents’ judgments about the desirability of toys for their children do not accurately reflect their gender role attitudes. This finding highlights the importance of simultaneously investigating different aspects of parents’ gender-related attitudes in order to gain a better understanding of parental transmission of gender stereotypes.     

Misunderstanding standardized language in research interviews

Leaving the interpretation of words up to participants in standardized survey interviews, aptitude tests, and experiment instructions can lead to unintended interpretation; more collaborative interviewing methods can promote uniform understanding. In two laboratory studies (a factorial experiment and a more naturalistic investigation), respondents interpreted ordinary survey concepts like ‘household furniture’ and ‘living in a house’ quite differently than intended in strictly standardized interviews, when the interpretation was left entirely up to them. Comprehension was more accurate when interviewers responded to requests for clarification with non‐standardized paraphrased definitions, and most accurate when interviewers also provided clarification whenever they suspected respondents needed it. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From Paul Flechsig to the Paul Flechsig Institute for Brain Research. Development of brain research at the Karl Marx University]

A review is given on the development of the brain research institute of the Karl-Marx-University of Leipzig during the directorates of Paul Flechsig (1883-1920), Richard Arwed Pfeifer (1925-1957), and Wolfgang Wünscher (1957-1971).     

Gender stereotypes in education: Development,consequences, and interventions

Despite many efforts to increase gender fairness in education in recent years, the issue has not yet become obsolete: Gender discrimination still exists and finds expression in unused chances and limited action repertoires for both sexes. This article gives an overview on existing gender differences across the lifespan before providing explanations for these differences from a developmental perspective. We present psychological theories of development dealing with the adoption of gender typical preferences and behaviors in children, and draw the connection to the role parents’ and teachers’ gender stereotypes play in this process. The mechanisms contributing to the perpetuation of gender differences are illustrated via empirical studies. Finally, we offer starting points for interventions to prevent the development of these gender differences, and introduce the REFLECT program which enhances gender competence in secondary school teachers and their students, and a training program for kindergarten teachers as concrete examples of such interventions.