Support was obtained from a Sapienza Starting Grant for Research to the first author (grant number AR11715C77EB56B2). None of the authors has any conflict of interest.

Introduction The present article describes two interrelated studies that examine gender typicality in young adulthood using a new dual-identity approach. Methods Participants were recruited online from March 2020 to February 2021 and reported their perceived similarity to own- and other-gender peers as a way to assess their gender typicality. In study 1, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test and validate the Perceived Similarity to Gender Groups Scale in a sample of Italian young adults (n = 571; Mage = 23.9; SD = 3.60). The authors documented the configural, metric, scalar measurement invariance, and validity. In study 2, the Perceived Similarity to Gender Groups Scale adopted in study 1 was used to assess the distribution of different typologies of gender typicality in another sample of Italian young adults who vary in gender and sexual orientation (n = 1126; Mage = 24.3; SD = 3.51). Results Results confirmed the structural validity of the Perceived Similarity to Gender Groups Scale, revealing the two-factor structure of the scale. Moreover, results of cluster analysis found different typologies of self-perceptions of gender typicality. Conclusion Both studies emphasize the relevance of studying gender typicality in young adulthood through a dual-identity approach, highlighting the relevance of gender and sexual orientations. Policy Implications The use of the dual-identity approach has significant social and clinical implications as it represents a more flexible and representative model of the complexity of gender typicality.

There is ample scientific evidence for the importance of parental gender socialization in children’s binary gender development. Surprisingly, little is known about the role of parents’ own gender identity in the binary gender identity development of their children. Therefore, the present study investigated the association between parents’ and children’s binary gender identity (i.e., similarity to same- and other-gender individuals) in a sample of 142 Dutch families with a child between the ages of 6 and 12 years old. The Dutch context is characterized by relatively high gender equality. Both parents and their children answered questions about their similarity to same-gender and other-gender individuals. Generalized estimating equations revealed that parents’ same-gender similarity and parents’ other-gender similarity were positively associated with their children’s same- and other-gender-similarity, respectively. In addition, more other-gender similarity in parents was associated with less same-gender similarity in girls, but more same-gender similarity in boys. Parents who reported high similarity with both genders were more likely to have children who also reported higher similarity with both genders. These findings indicate that parents’ own binary gender identity is related in general and specific ways to their children’s binary gender identity development. Parents should be made aware of their role in children’s binary gender identity development. Yet, more research on different types of gender identity in parents and their children is necessary.

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The present study focuses on the relationship between gender typicality, social self-efficacy, and adjustment in a sample of 522 lesbian women, gay men, bisexual, and other non-heterosexual sexual orientation participants. Participants (78.2% women; Mage = 23.8, SD = 3.63) reported their similarity to same- and other-gender peers as a way to assess their gender typicality, social self-efficacy, satisfaction with life, and perceived social safeness. The Path Analysis model showed that - controlling for participants’ gender and sexual orientation- higher same- and other-gender typicality was associated with higher perceived social safeness and higher satisfaction with life, both directly and indirectly through social self-efficacy. The present study contributed to the debate on gender studies by testing same and other gender typicality as independent dimensions of gender typicality in sexual minority young adults, focusing on positive adjustment. Furthermore, the results suggested the role of social self-efficacy as a critical mechanism in the association between gender typicality and sexual minority psychosocial adjustment.