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According to a procedure developed by Sundberg and Tyler, adoles cents (904, 14 to 16 years of age) from Cyprus, India, the Nether lands, and the United States listed all the free-time activities they could think of, checking those they would consider for themselves. In each sample boys checked relatively more sports activities and more group activities as possible for themselves than did girls, although the result for sports in Cyprus was of borderline signifi cance. The pervasive gender differences in the use of free time correspond with widespread gender-trait stereotyping and may reflect differential socialization practices for girls and boys.

Drawings of the 'ideal person' completed by 82 children (aged 5 through 17) attending a programme for working children in Honduras were scored for content, emotional indicators and intellectual maturity. Analysis revealed that the content of street children's drawings could provide insight into their aspirations, resourcefulness and life circumstances.

The study involved 250 urban Guatemalan adolescents who ranked 10 qualities of either the ideal man or the ideal woman and drew a picture of the ideal person engaged in an activity. Both boys and girls ranked being kind and honest, being very intelligent, and liking children as the most important qualities for both the ideal man and the ideal woman. Drawings of the ideal person most often depicted the ideal person working in a job or at home. Many students attending public schools drew the ideal person sweeping or gardening, whereas many students attending private schools drew the ideal person working in an office. Comments on the drawings often suggested that the ideal person was working for the social good -his or her family, company, or country. These results are interpreted as reflecting both cultural ideals and the developmental stage of adolescence.

Six hundred young adolescents (11 to 16 years old) from 4 countries (Guatemala, Iceland, Mexico, and the United States) ranked the importance of 10 qualities of the opposite-sex ideal person. Those from the United States responded in an individualistic fashion; they ranked being fun, being sexy, and having considerable money as important for the ideal. Those from Guatemala responded in a collectivistic fashion; they ranked liking children as important, but being fun and good looking as unimportant. Adolescents from Mexico and Iceland reported patterns of values not clearly associated with either collectivism or individualism.

In this cross-cultural study, 188 9th-grade girls and boys from the U.S.A. and Mexico ranked 10 characteristics of the opposite sex ideal person, and drew pictures of the ideal person engaged in an activity. These young adolescents showed significant agreement about the characteristics of the ideal man and woman; however, there were important gender and cross-cultural differences. Boys emphasized physical characteristics more so than girls. As compared to U.S.A. adolescents, Mexican adolescents more highly valued liking children, helping others, high intelligence, and inner qualities such as goodness and honesty in the opposite sex ideal. U.S.A. adolescents gave higher rankings to having a lot of money and being fun, popular, good looking, and sexy; they drew the ideal person as more physically mature, and involved in a less sex-stereotyped activity than did Mexicans.

One hundred and eighty-one ninth grade students were randomly as-signed the ideal man or ideal woman version of a questionnaire in which they ranked ten qualities of the ideal person and drew a picture of the ideal person doing something. Four ideal types emerged. Girls depicted the ideal man as "the chivalrous football player" (kind and honest, fun loving, smiling, and bringing flowers). Boys depicted the ideal man as"the frowning football player" (fun loving, frowning, and engaged in sports). Girls described the ideal woman as "the smiling hardworker' (kind and honest, smiling, intelligent, and having adult responsibilities). Boys perceived the ideal woman as "the smiling sunbather' (good looking, sexy, smiling, and engaged in leisurely activities). Some exceptions were noted, but overall, gender differences in the emerging values of young adolescents were reflected in their ideal images.

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