Associations between quality of parent–child relationships and children's gender typicality: A 4‐year longitudinal study

Abstract

Little is known about influences on gender typicality. To address this issue, the present study examined developmental antecedents of preadolescents' gender typicality. Using a longitudinal multi‐method design, we investigated the prospective associations between the quality of parent–child relationships in childhood and preadolescents' subsequent gender typicality. It was hypothesized that feelings of gender typicality would be positively related to quality of relationship with the corresponding‐gender parent. Sixty‐eight families (40 girls) participated in two home visits. The quality of mother–child and father–child relationships was assessed by observation at age 7 and youths reported on their gender typicality at 11 years. Results indicated that girls who had higher‐quality relationships with their mother at age 7 felt more similar to other girls 4 years later. This finding suggests that mother–child relationships might be a contributing factor in the development of girls' gender typicality. Highlights This paper examines the role that parents play in their children's gender typicality development. The results revealed that parent–child relationships were associated with subsequent gender typicality in girls but not in boys. Girls who had higher‐quality relationships with their mother at age 7 felt more similar to other girls 4 years later.

A study of the mechanism for intergenerational transmission of gender roles in single-parent families

“…Harmonious parent-child interactions are the first source of children's complete gender role development [ 75 ]. Single-parent children already face the absence of one parental gender; resentment towards their absent parents would be detrimental to children's development of androgynous gender roles [ 76 ]. Therefore, single parents should be proactive in their parent-child communications.…”

Like Parent, like Child: General and Specific Associations Between Parents’ and Children’s Binary Gender Identity in a Gender Egalitarian Context

“…The role of parents as a central socialization agent for children's gender development is well established in the literature (Blakemore et al, 2009;Cook et al, 2019;Endendijk et al, 2016;Lemelin et al, 2021;Menon et al, 2017;Perry & Pauletti, 2011;Tobin et al, 2010;Turner & Gervai, 1995), but less is known about the parental role in children's binary gender identity development. Several theoretical frameworks offer different explanations about children's gender identity development, varying in their proposed processes (i.e., social, biological, cognitive), but all stress how parents might play an essential role in children's gender identity development (Leaper, 2015).…”