A series of tests was designed for 24-, 30-, and 36-month-old children to measure their ability to apply various gender labels to the appropriate sexes, their capacity to place themselves in their own gender category, and their usage of labels to guide preference behavior. Also, the child's awareness of sex role stereotyping and the relationship of the above measures to parental SES and sex role attitudes were examined. In general, unlike the younger children, the oldest children consistently applied gender labels properly, were certain of their own gender, used same-sex gender labels to guide behavior, and were aware of sex role stereotyping. There was no relation between these measures and demographic variables.

A series of tests was designed for 24-, 30-, and 36-month-old children to measure their ability to apply various gender labels to the appropriate sexes, their capacity to place themselves in their own gender category, and their usage of labels to guide preference behavior. Also, the child's awareness of sex role stereotyping and the relationship of the above measures to parental SES and sex role attitudes were examined. In general, unlike the younger children, the oldest children consistently applied gender labels properly, were certain of their own gender, used same-sex gender labels to guide behavior, and were aware of sex role stereotyping. There was no relation between these measures and demographic variables.

No abstract

The relative importance of cues associated with physical sex characteristics was examined. Realistic plastic dolls were made which allowed presentation of eight different combinations of the male and female sex characteristics of genitals, body type, and hair length. A nude doll was shown to each of 144 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children and 96 adults. Each subject was randomly assigned to view only one of the eight dolls. Scores were tallied for the subject's dressing and naming of the doll as masculine or feminine. Hair and body type were the most important cues for children in establishing the sex of the doll. Genitals, followed by body type, were the most significant cues for adults. The children's scores were not related to factors such as age, sibling patterns, or absence of a parent in the home.

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A technique for efficiently presenting a large number of vocabulary items was developed for the testing of vocabulary comprehension in children younger than two years. The technique, incorporating slides of real objects, had the advantages of maintaining the child’s attention, motivating task continuation, and overcoming the extraneous contextual cues of test materials. The subjects were 106 children aged 17 to 30 months from a wide range of social status groups, and from both English and Spanish language families. Results indicated significant stability over time as well as a significant relationship to maternal report. Analysis of errors suggested that comprehension develops similarly to production, in that simple nouns were the easiest items, verbs were more difficult, and modifiers and locatives were the most difficult. There were no significant main effects of sex or social status. However, specific environmental variables such as parental attitudes and playmate patterns were significantly correlated with test performance. More flexible family control systems and more interaction with peers were both associated with better vocabulary comprehension in firstborn children.

The physical movement and social characteristics of effeminate behavior-problem, referred boys (N = 13) were compared with those of normal boys (N = 25) and boys (N = 12) referred for nongender problems. Parent reports, observer ratings, and videotapes were collected in a series of structured tasks. As expected, mothers described gender-problem sons as much more feminine than the other two groups in interests, activities, and mannerisms. Gender-problem sons were also seen as relatively inactive and introverted. Further, they were nonsignificantly lower than the clinical control boys in perceived behavior problems, but both groups had marginally more problems than the normal boys. Gender-problem and clinical control boys both showed more body constriction than normal boys in ratings of a videotaped interview. They also both showed less ideal ball-throw form than normal boys on a set of variables scored with slow-motion video. However, in a set of behaviors directly rated in the various tasks, the gender-problem boys gave a uniquely general impression of uncoordination. The groups did not differ on seven additional variables.

Cycles of biologically relevant reactions are an alternative to an origin of life emerging from a steady state away from equilibrium. The cycles involve a rate at which polymers are synthesized and accumulate in microscopic compartments called protocells, and two rates in which monomers and polymers are chemically degraded by hydrolytic reactions. Recent experiments have demonstrated that polymers are synthesized from mononucleotides and accumulate during cycles of hydration and dehydration, which means that the rate of polymer synthesis during the dehydrated phase of the cycle is balanced (but not dominated) by the rate of polymer hydrolysis during the hydrated phase of the cycle. Furthermore, depurination must be balanced by the reverse process of repurination. Here we describe a computational model that was inspired by experimental results, can be generalized to accommodate other reaction parameters, and has qualitative predictive power.