Sex-of-Child Differences in Father-Child Interaction at One Year of Age

Snow, Margaret Ellis; Jacklin, Carol Nagy; Maccoby, Eleanor E.

doi:10.2307/1129880

Cited by 123 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In support of this view, Snow et al (1983) found that fathers of 12-month-old infants were less likely to give dolls to their sons than to their daughters. In addition, Caldera and Sciaraffa (1998) observed parents and their 18-to 23-month-old infants playing with either a doll or a clown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Sex-typedtoypreferences have been seen ininfants (Alexander, Wilcox, & Woods, 2009;Campbell, Shirley, Heywood, & Crook, 2000;Serbin et al, 2001;Snow, Jacklin, & Maccoby, 1983), grow larger as childhood progresses , and have been reported into young adulthood (Alexander, 2006). These sex differences have been documented using an array of research methodologies, including inventories of children's toys at home, observation of children's toy contact in a playroom, parental interviews and questionnaires, and visual preferences and eye-tracking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Infants’ Preferences for Toys, Colors, and Shapes: Sex Differences and Similarities

2010

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Girls and boys differ in their preferences for toys such as dolls and trucks. These sex differences are present in infants, are seen in non-human primates, and relate, in part, to prenatal androgen exposure. This evidence of inborn influences on sex-typed toy preferences has led to suggestions that object features, such as the color or the shape of toys, may be of intrinsically different interest to males and females. We used a preferential looking task to examine preferences for different toys, colors, and shapes in 120 infants, ages 12, 18, or 24 months. Girls looked at dolls significantly more than boys did and boys looked at cars significantly more than girls did, irrespective of color, particularly when brightness was controlled. These outcomes did not vary with age. There were no significant sex differences in infants' preferences for different colors or shapes. Instead, both girls and boys preferred reddish colors over blue and rounded over angular shapes. These findings augment prior evidence of sex-typed toy preferences in infants, but suggest that color and shape do not determine these sex differences. In fact, the direction of influence could be the opposite. Girls may learn to prefer pink, for instance, because the toys that they enjoy playing with are often colored pink. Regarding within sex differences, as opposed to differences between boys and girls, both boys and girls preferred dolls to cars at age 12-months. The preference of young boys for dolls over cars suggests that older boys' avoidance of dolls may be acquired. Similarly, the sex similarities in infants' preferences for colors and shapes suggest that any subsequent sex differences in these preferences may arise from socialization or cognitive gender development rather than inborn factors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infants’ Preferences for Toys, Colors, and Shapes: Sex Differences and Similarities

2010

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“…The way in which parents interact with infants and children is also guided by the child ' s gender. From at least as early as 1 year old, parents encourage infants to play with sex -typed toys (Snow, Jacklin, & Maccoby, 1983 ), a phenomenon that becomes even more marked during the toddler years (Fagot, 1978 ;Langlois & Downs, 1980 ) but seems to wane by the time they reach 5 years old (Fagot & Hagan, 1991 ). In addition, mothers are more likely to discuss emotions with daughters than with sons (Dunn, Bretherton, & Munn, 1987 ;Fivush, 1989 ).…”

Section: Psychological E Xplanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Social Behavior

Pasterski¹,

Golombok²,

Hines³

2010

The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development

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From an early age, boys and girls can be easily distinguished according to sex. Although this is partly due to appearance and the way in which their parents dress them and cut their hair, it is also because of the things that children do. Boys and girls like to play with different toys, prefer different games, and engage in different activities. Long before they reach school age, it is possible to tell with a reasonable degree of accuracy whether a child is a boy or a girl simply on the basis of his or her behavior. This does not mean that all boys engage in male -typical activities, or that all girls engage in female -typical activities, all of the time. There is a great deal of overlap between the sexes, with some girls seeming quite " boyish " and some boys seeming quite " girlish. " Although there is considerable variation in the behavior of children within each sex, it is generally more acceptable for girls to behave like boys than it is for boys to behave like girls. This may explain why the term tomboy used to describe masculine girls is often used endearingly, whereas sissy is a much more derogatory term when applied to feminine boys.What exactly are the differences in behavior shown by boys and girls? And how do these differences develop? These are the questions that will be addressed in this chapter. First, sex differences in social behavior will be described from the preschool to the elementary school years. This will be followed by a consideration of the various theories that have been put forward to explain this phenomenon. The sections on biological theories draw from Collaer and Hines (1995) and Hines (2004Hines ( , 2009 , whereas those on psychological theories draw from Golombok and Fivush (1994) . As will be seen, some theories have greater empirical support than others. Following Maccoby (1988) , the terms sex and gender will be used interchangeably throughout the chapter without any assumption that sex implies biological causes or that gender results from socialization.

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“…Sex-typed toy preferences have been demonstrated in children as young as 1 year old (Alexander, Wilcox, & Woods, 2009;Campell, Shirley, Heywood, & Crook, 2000;Jadva, Hines, & Golombok, 2010;Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, Colbourne, Sen, & Eichstedt 2001;Snow, Jacklin, & Maccoby, 1983) and, by their third birthday, girls are much more likely than boys to play with dolls, dolls' houses, tea sets, and other domestic toys whereas boys most often play with toy guns, swords, cars, trains, and trucks (Hines, 2010a;O'Brien & Huston, 1985;Pasterski et al, 2005;Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006;Servin, Bohlin, & Berlin, 1999;Sutton-Smith & Rosenberg, 1971). By this age, girls also prefer girls as playmates and boys prefer to play with boys (Howes, 1988;LaFreniere, Strayor, & Gauthier, 1984;Maccoby & Jacklin, 1987;Pellegrini, Long, Roseth, Bohn, & van Ryzin, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuity in Sex-Typed Behavior from Preschool to Adolescence: A Longitudinal Population Study of Boys and Girls Aged 3–13 Years

et al. 2011

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Sex-typed behavior was assessed at age 3 using the Pre-School Activities Inventory, and at age 13 using the Multidimensional Gender Identity Scale, in 54 masculine boys, 57 masculine girls, 75 feminine boys, 65 feminine girls, 61 control boys, and 65 control girls. At age 13, girls who had been masculine at age 3 felt less similar to other girls, were less content being a girl, and had greater self-efficacy for male-typed activities than control girls, and girls who had been feminine at age 3 had greater self-efficacy for female-typed activities. Boys who had been feminine at age 3 felt less similar to other boys and had lower self-efficacy for male-typed activities than control boys at age 13, and boys who had been masculine at age 3 felt more competent in agentic roles. Thus, sex-typed behavior at age 3 predicted sex-typed behavior at age 13. It was concluded that the degree of sex-typed behavior shown by preschool children is a good indicator of their degree of sex-typed behavior following the transition to adolescence.

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Sex-of-Child Differences in Father-Child Interaction at One Year of Age

Cited by 123 publications

References 25 publications

Infants’ Preferences for Toys, Colors, and Shapes: Sex Differences and Similarities

Infants’ Preferences for Toys, Colors, and Shapes: Sex Differences and Similarities

Sex Differences in Social Behavior

Continuity in Sex-Typed Behavior from Preschool to Adolescence: A Longitudinal Population Study of Boys and Girls Aged 3–13 Years

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