Chapter 6: Developing Gender Identity Flashcards
What Does Gender Identity mean?
- identifying and accepting the self as male or female
What are Gender Roles?
- Behaviours typically associated with male or female
- children may behave in ways that are not typical for their gender and still have a clear gender identity
Gender Identity Development
- categorize male and female
- label self and others
- associated activities
- how he/she fits in
Development during Childhood: Infants around 7 months can?
- distinguish between women and mens faces
- attend primarily to hair length as the distinguishing cue
- prefer female faces
Development during Childhood: Children around 24 months
- toddlers exhibit some knowledge of gender-related vocabulary and gender typical activities
- attending longer to gender atypical behaviours
The Sequence of Childhood Gender Role Development: Gender labelling
- children under 18 months fail at gender labelling
- they do not use words that denote gender
- by 24 months: most are correct labelling
- average female age- 17 months
- average boy age- 21 months
Does gender labelling or knowledge of gender related behaviours come first?
- gender labelling
What is gender constancy, what age does it happen, and what is it comprised of?
- gender constancy: gender as permanent and unchangeable
- happens after age 3
- comprised of gender stability and gender consistency
Gender Identity Differences Between boys and girls
- greater pressure on boys to adopt the typical and approved gender role
- children evaluate their own gender more positively than the other gender (plays role in gender segregation)
Later childhood gender identity development
- most children complete by age 6
- generally after age 11 gender flexibility increases with age but more so for girls than boys
Gender Flexibility in Adolescence and Adulthood
- gender flexibility increases with age
- the transition to college is accompanied by an increase in flexibility
- gender inflexibility in older adults may be a cohort effect rather than an age effect
What are the Biological Factors for Gender Development?
- configuration of external genitalia
- Prenatal Hormones
- primes us for development
How do prenatal hormones play a role in gender development
- potentially related to childhood behaviours
- influence of high level androgens (eg congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia)
- girls high in ‘masculine’ behaviours had mothers with higher levels of testosterone during pregnancy
How does family context play a role in gender development
- critically important
both overt and covert beliefs about gender
what are the 4 processes of parental influence on gender development
- modelling
- differential treatment (eg, interaction such as curfews, toys, sports, chores, academics)
- opportunities encouraged (employment)
- monitoring and supervision (more for girls than boys)
