(Bio)Logics of The Family: Gender, Biological Relatedness, and Attitudes Toward Children’s Gender Nonconformity in a Vignette Experiment¹

Abstract

Family is one of the most influential institutions when it comes to the production and reproduction of gender. Yet despite the prevalence of families in which children are not biologically related to parents in the U.S. today, little research has explored the role of the biological connection in parents' beliefs about children's gender nonconformity. Using original data collected through an online survey experiment (N = 712), I examine the extent to which parents' beliefs toward a biological child or stepchild's, and son or daughter's, gender nonconformity differ. After reading a short vignette about a child acting in a gender non-normative way, respondents were asked a series of questions, ranging from whether they would be upset, supportive, and most importantly, feel accountable to others, that gauged beliefs about the child's gender nonconformity. Results showed greater upset and heightened accountability for biological children (vs. stepchildren). Results revealed that parents overwhelmingly indicated greater upset, less support, and heightened accountability for sons (vs. daughters). These findings illustrate the mutability of accountability structures in the face of the biological connection and gender between parents and children.

The Fragile Male: An Experimental Study of Transgender Classification and the Durability of Gender Categories

“…Boys enjoy limited freedom, and deviations from masculine norms come at high social costs for the boys themselves and for those who surround them. Indeed, parents report a heightened fear of courtesy stigma in relation to femininity in sons than they do to masculinity in daughters, which has remained markedly steady, even in recent years (Stacey 2022). And the psychological and educational costs of family and community non-acceptance are high (Katz-Wise, Rosario, and Tsappis 2016; Ryan et al 2010).…”

Untangling perceptions of atypical parents

“…Survey experiments are becoming increasingly common in the social sciences, and they are particularly useful for gauging people's beliefs about social groups because they allow researchers to make causal arguments and isolate the effects of predictor variables (Mutz, 2011). Most survey experiments today are conducted online, such that respondents are randomly assigned to read a vignette or view another visual stimulus, and then they are asked a set of questions that is the same for all respondents (see, e.g., Doan et al, 2019; Jackson & Cox, 2013; Pedulla, 2014; Quadlin, 2019; Stacey, 2022). The data from our phone survey experiment are equivalent to data from survey experiments that are conducted online.…”