Gender Development 2

Question 1

Development of gender stereotyped preferences

Answer 1

3 years - gender based preferences emerge
4-5 - children avoid other sex toys
Boys masculine preference increase with age
Girls feminine preferences increases un till 5/6, then they show less interest in feminine activities and increasing interest in masculine
Boys avoid feminine activities more than girls
Boys and girls view boys with feminine more negatively than girls with masculine
Gender boundary maintenance

Question 2

What does gender boundary maintenance refer too?

Answer 2

Process where gender group boundaries are maintained

Boys more likely to initiate and maintain group boundaries and make fun of them

Question 3

Why are boys with feminine preferences viewed negatively?

Answer 3

girls with masculine preferences are viewed positively because seen as tomboys

Question 4

Development of gender stereotype knowledge

Answer 4

3 - learn very early - objects and activities
5 years - learn about personality traits, boys more independent, aggressive and assertive, girls more dependent, emotional and submissive
3-5 - stereotypes about activities and occupations
7 years old - ceiling level reached

Question 5

What does a ceiling level mean?

Answer 5

Understanding the stereotypes but realising that they can do other stuff as well

Question 6

When is a ceiling level reached?

Answer 6

By age 7

Question 7

Why is there mixed evidence for a relationship between parent and children’s gender stereotypes?

Answer 7

Parents aren’t the only influence

Depends on the aspects you look at - stereotypes, preferences, beliefs etc

Question 8

What don’t researchers distinguish between in terms of parents influences?

Answer 8

Factors that:

• are responsible for developmental changes shared by boys and girls
• produce differences between boys and girls
• produce differences within boys and girls
• gender is multidimensional - different effects depending on aspect

Question 9

Do parents treat sons and daughters differently?

Answer 9

Willis et al - parents viewed photos of two babies, one dressed in gils and one in boys, but same baby.

Parents smiled more at 6 month old Beth and were more likely to give her a doll to play with than Adam

Question 10

How do parents influence their children? Rubin, provenano and Luria

Answer 10

new parents described their babies stereotypically, despite no real differences in birth rate. Girls described as more delicate and finer featured, boys described as heavier, stronger, larger featured

Question 11

How do parents influence their children? Fagot

Answer 11

Girls encouraged to dance, play with dolls etc but discouraged from climbing, running etc. Boys encouraged to play with trucks, building blocks etc, but discouraged from playing with dolls or engaging in feminine activities

Stereotypes encouraged more in sons, by fathers more

Question 12

Is the evidence mixed?

Answer 12

Maccoby and Jacklin - meta analysis found no evidence of sex differences for parental influences - very little difference in how they socialise their sons and daughters - based largely on mothers

Lytton and Romney - no reliable differences according to sex of child apart from the activities parents encourage sons and daughters to do - age of child was crucial in parental influence -included fathers

Question 13

What do parents beliefs influence?

Answer 13

the goals and expectations they have for their children
how they perceive their children’s interests
how they interact with their children
eg. if a boy shows a tendency to like football, mum may join the football team

Question 14

What does Eccles expectancy value theory explain?

Answer 14

How gender is linked to parents beliefs and how these are linked to children’s involvement in and beliefs about activities

Question 15

What is Eccles expectancy value theory?

Answer 15

Parents gender role beliefs affect judgements made about children competence in stereotypes activity

these judgements affect parents expectations and children’s future performance

these expectations affect types of opportunities parents then give their children

Question 16

Parental influence: gender and achievement

Answer 16

Michigan study of childhood and beyond - longitudinal, 600 children. Differences in ratings of sons and daughters competence and interest in activity and domains:
daughters considered more competent and interested in English than sports
daughters considered more talented in instrumental music
sons more competent and interested in sports than english

Question 17

What affects parents’ perceptions of their children’s competence?

Answer 17

True differences in aptitude?

Gendered attributional patterns

Question 18

True differences in aptitude?

Answer 18

No, because boys and girls have had different opportunities to develop skills and parents beliefs about maths competence are influenced by childs gender independent on the childs actual performance

Question 19

Gendered attributional patterns

Answer 19

These are important mediators of gender-stereotyped perceptions of children’s competence

Yes and Eccles - parents of boys rated natural talent as more important reason for maths success than effort. Parents of girls rated effort as more important reason for maths success than natural talent

Question 20

Why should fathers be most influential male figure?

Answer 20

Because most teachers are female, so don’t have many other people

Question 21

Does father absence make a difference?

Answer 21

Seems to make little difference

Question 22

Stevenson and Black - lone mother families

Answer 22

Meta-analses comparing father present and father absent families - preschoolers in father absent families were less stereotyped but older boys in father absent families were more stereotyped - effect size varied with SES, age and reason for absence

Question 23

Stevens et al 2002

Answer 23

Avon longitudinal study of parents and children general population study of 14000 mothers and children since early pregnancy

3.5 year old, 6420, lone mother families, some had contact with father and some no contact since 12 months old

no differences in gender-role behaviour between lone-mother families with/without contact and two parent families

Question 24

Why are there no negative effects of not having a father?

Answer 24

Lone mothers can socialise sufficiently enough
Parents are not hugely influential
Perhaps mothers awareness of father absence so bring in uncles, friends

Question 25

Why do siblings play an important role?

Answer 25

They are models, they can provide examples of gender-related behaviour from which to develop gender-schemas and act as reinforcers of gender related behaviour

Question 26

Golombok, Hines and Johnston - role of siblings

Answer 26

UK study, 3 year olds with older sibling

sex of older sibling was associated with gender role behaviour of younger:
boys with older bro, girls with older sisters were more gender-typed than children with other sex siblings
having an older bro was associated with more masculine behaviour and less feminine behaviour in both boys and girls
boys with older sister were more feminine but not less masculine
girls and an older sister were less masculine but not more feminine

Question 27

McHale et al - longitudinal study

Answer 27

Longtudinal study of sibling (2 siblings, mean ages 10 and 8) and parent influence
assessed parents and children gender role attitudes, characteristics, and intersts

Second born sibling - greater evidence for sibling influences than for parent influences. Interests, gender role attitudes and personality characteristics were influenced by second born siblings

First born siblings - parental influence more of an effect than sibling, first born become less like their siblings (de-identification process of sibling influence)