Sexing the baby: Part 2 applying dynamic systems theory to the emergences of sex-related differences in infants and toddlers

Fausto‐Sterling, Anne; Coll, Cynthia García; Lamarre, Meaghan

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.027

Cited by 58 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…shyness and fear), which was in line with traditional gender‐stereotyped expectations (Chaplin et al, ; Garside & Klimes‐Dougan, ; Gordon, ; Klein, ; Putnam et al, ). Regarding the finding that the positive impact of responsive parenting on subsequent negative emotionality during infancy was found only among girls, possible developmental differences in gene expression between the male and female brain (Kang et al, ; Weickert et al, ), which are mostly pronounced during the prenatal and neonatal periods, might have contributed to engendering the result by giving rise to gender‐related variations in susceptibility to environmental influences, in concert with parents' gender‐related socializing practices (Fausto‐Sterling et al, , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among Negative Emotionality, Responsive Parenting and Early Socio‐cognitive Development in Korean Children

Cha

2016

Infant and Child Development

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The present study examined the interplay among negative emotionality, responsive parenting and socio‐cognitive developmental outcomes (i.e., communication, personal‐social and problem‐solving outcomes) in about 1620 Korean children using three waves of longitudinal data spanning the first 2 years of their life. Results from the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) demonstrated that there were moderate to low degrees of stability in negative emotionality, responsive parenting and socio‐cognitive developmental outcomes from infancy to toddlerhood. Evidence for reciprocity in the parent–child relationship was found; responsive parenting predicted higher levels of subsequent child communication (in infancy and toddlerhood), and infants' higher problem‐solving ability predicted higher responsive parenting in toddlerhood. Overall, the cross‐age associations among the variables were similar between boys and girls, but some different patterns were observed: when controlling for family contextual factors and the within‐time correlations, negative emotionality at an earlier point significantly predicted lower responsive parenting at a later point and vice versa only in girls during infancy, but neither in boys nor in toddlerhood. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among Negative Emotionality, Responsive Parenting and Early Socio‐cognitive Development in Korean Children

Cha

2016

Infant and Child Development

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“…Fausto-Sterling and coworkers,28 refer to Krieger's notion of embodiment in their integration of embodiment with developmental systems theory in order to illuminate how sex/gender differences emerge during the first years of life. While enormous individual variability in behaviours exists at birth, the authors show how cultural gendered practices lead to different treatment of boys and girls and that this treatment may have tangible and long-term effects on their bodies and brains 28 29…”

Section: Embodimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Central gender theoretical concepts in health research: the state of the art

Hammarström

Johansson

Annandale

et al. 2013

J Epidemiol Community Health

120

152

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Despite increasing awareness of the importance of gender perspectives in health science, there is conceptual confusion regarding the meaning and the use of central gender theoretical concepts. We argue that it is essential to clarify how central concepts are used within gender theory and how to apply them to health research. We identify six gender theoretical concepts as central and interlinked-but problematic and ambiguous in health science: sex, gender, intersectionality, embodiment, gender equity and gender equality. Our recommendations are that: the concepts sex and gender can benefit from a gender relational theoretical approach (i.e., a focus on social processes and structures) but with additional attention to the interrelations between sex and gender; intersectionality should go beyond additive analyses to study complex intersections between the major factors which potentially influence health and ensure that gendered power relations and social context are included; we need to be aware of the various meanings given to embodiment, which achieve an integration of gender and health and attend to different levels of analyses to varying degrees; and appreciate that gender equality concerns absence of discrimination between women and men while gender equity focuses on women's and men's health needs, whether similar or different. We conclude that there is a constant need to justify and clarify our use of these concepts in order to advance gender theoretical development. Our analysis is an invitation for dialogue but also a call to make more effective use of the knowledge base which has already developed among gender theorists in health sciences in the manner proposed in this paper.

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“…This finding echoes the long-standing conclusion of others with respect to sex differences in early child development (Jacklin, 1981, Maccoby and Jacklin, 1984). The small number of observed sex differences in infancy and toddlerhood, along with the tenuous nature of much of the evidence, has been more recently reviewed in a thoughtful pair of articles (Fausto-Sterling et al, 2012a, b). The authors propose a dynamic systems-based model for understanding the evolving sex-typed landscape.…”

Section: On the Origins Of Male Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The gestational foundation of sex differences in development and vulnerability

2017

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Despite long-standing interest in the role of sex on human development, the functional consequences of fetal sex on early development are not well understood. Here we explore the gestational origins of sex as a moderator of development. In accordance with the focus of this special issue, we examine evidence for a sex differential in vulnerability to prenatal and perinatal risks. Exposures evaluated include those present in the external environment (e.g., lead, pesticides), those introduced by maternal behaviors (e.g., alcohol, opioid use), and those resulting from an adverse intrauterine environment (e.g., preterm birth). We also provide current knowledge on the degree to which sex differences in fetal neurobehavioral development (i.e., cardiac and motor patterns) are present prior to birth. Also considered are contemporaneous and persistent sex of fetus effects on the pregnant woman. Converging evidence confirms that infant and early childhood developmental outcomes of male fetuses exposed to prenatal and perinatal adversities are more highly impaired than those of female fetuses. In certain circumstances, male fetuses are both more frequently exposed to early adversities and more affected by them when exposed than are female fetuses. The mechanisms through which biological sex imparts vulnerability or protection on the developing nervous system are largely unknown. We consider models that implicate variation in maturation, placental functioning, and the neuroendocrine milieu as potential contributors. Many studies use sex as a control variable, some analyze and report main effects for sex, but those that report interaction terms for sex are scare. As a result, the true scope of sex differences in vulnerability is unknown.

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Sexing the baby: Part 2 applying dynamic systems theory to the emergences of sex-related differences in infants and toddlers

Cited by 58 publications

References 77 publications

Relationships among Negative Emotionality, Responsive Parenting and Early Socio‐cognitive Development in Korean Children

Relationships among Negative Emotionality, Responsive Parenting and Early Socio‐cognitive Development in Korean Children

Central gender theoretical concepts in health research: the state of the art

The gestational foundation of sex differences in development and vulnerability

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