Children’s Views About Their Future Career and Family Involvement: Associations With Children’s Gender Schemas and Parents’ Involvement in Work and Family Roles

Abstract

Substantial gender disparities in career advancement are still apparent, for instance in the gender pay gap, the overrepresentation of women in parttime work, and the underrepresentation of women in managerial positions. Regarding the developmental origins of these gender disparities, the current study examined whether children’s views about future career and family involvement were associated with children’s own gender schemas (gender stereotypes, gender identity) and parents’ career- and family-related gender roles. Participants were 142 Dutch families with a child between the ages of 6 and 12 years old (M = 9.80, SD = 1.48, 60% girls). The families had different compositions (1 parent, 2 parents, 1 to 3 children). Children completed a computer task assessing gender stereotypes about toys and questionnaires on gender identity (i.e., felt similarity to same- and other-gender children) and their views about future career and family involvement. Parents reported their occupation, work hours, and task division in the home, which were combined in a composite variable reflecting gender-typicality of career and family involvement. Generalized estimation equations were used to take into account dependency between family members. Results revealed that parents’, and especially mothers’, gender-typical career and family involvement was associated with children’s gender-typical views about future career and family involvement. In addition, children’s felt similarity to the same gender was associated with children’s gender-typical expectations about career and family involvement. These findings suggest that parents’ career, work hours, and task division in the home, together play an important role in how their children envision their future work and family roles. Children themselves also play an active role in developing this vision for the future by their own gender identity, specifically by how similar they feel to individuals of the same gender. To reduce gender disparities in the occupational and domestic domain, programs need to be designed that focus on parental role modeling in the family as well as children’s gender identity development.

A neurocognitive approach to studying processes underlying parents’ gender socialization

“…Similarly, targeting essentialists beliefs about gender in interventions could decrease negative reactions toward (parents of) gender-nonconforming children ( Skewes et al, 2018 ; Sullivan et al, 2018 ). More gender equal upbringing would decrease the limitations children experience with regard to toy preferences, activities, occupations, and friendship opportunities ( Updegraff et al, 1996 ; Martin et al, 2017 ; Endendijk and Portengen, 2021 ).…”

“…Third, parents appear to respond more negatively to behavior that violates gendered expectations (e.g., a boy who plays with dolls) than when gender stereotypes are confirmed (e.g., a boy who plays with cars; Smetana, 1989 ; Morrongiello and Dawber, 2000 ; Martin and Ross, 2005 ). Fourth, parents serve as models for appropriate gender-role behavior through their own behaviors, interests, and division of work and household tasks ( Bandura, 1969 ; Bandura and Walters, 1977 ; Bussey and Bandura, 1984 , 1999 ; Endendijk and Portengen, 2021 ). Fifth, parents may use gendered communication, such as gender labeling (e.g., boy, girl, he, she) or evaluative comments that emphasize the appropriateness of gender-typical behaviors (e.g., “Look, those girls are fighting.…”

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

“…Thus, the association between gender identity typicality of parents and children might be stronger for same-gender parent-child dyads (i.e., mother-daugther, father-son) than for other-gender parent-child dyads (i.e., mother-son, father-daughter). There is some evidence of a same-gender modeling effect between parents and children, for instance in the association between parents' gender-typical career and family involvement and children's gender-typical views about future career and family involvement, which was most salient in samegender parent-child dyads (Endendijk & Portengen, 2022;Fulcher & Coyle, 2011;Polavieja & Platt, 2014;Oliveira et al, 2020). There are, however, also studies that do not find evidence for children's more pronounced modeling of same-gender parents (Gonzalez et al, 2022;Hu, 2015).…”

Religious Schools, Home Schools, and Gender-Role Beliefs in Adulthood

“…Given this, central institutions in which people are involved are critical in shaping gender-role beliefs. The families people grow up in are one of the most influential sites of gender-related socialization (Chafee and Plante 2022; Davis and Greenstein 2009; Davis and Wills 2010; Eccles et al 1990; Endendijk and Portengen 2022; Moen et al 1997; Thornton et al 1983; Witt 1997).…”

“…As a mother's work status influences her children's later beliefs about whether or not mothers should work (Endendijk and Portengen 2022; Herzog and Bachman 1982; Hoffman 1974; Starrels 1992), homeschooling may strengthen support for the belief that mothers should stay home with their children. Some research finds homeschooling and homeschool communities foster cultural schemas that provide mothers who want to stay home with their children justification for doing so (Stevens 2001, also Gaither 2009; Kunzman and Gaither 2020; Lois 2017).…”