The Development of Gender Understanding: Judgments and Explanations

Wehren, Aileen; Lisi, Richard De

doi:10.2307/1129820

Cited by 30 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As described earlier, some of the previous studies have shown that a high level of gender understanding was positively related to preferences and knowledge, whereas other studies failed to find the same results. Some researchers have argued that the mixed results are due to methodological problems with the present measures (Bem, 1989;Huston, 1983;Siegal & Robinson, 1987;Stangor & Ruble, 1987;Wehren & De Lisi, 1983). Given the present findings, one would suspect that positive relations may be due to the influence of stability rather than to consistency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children's Sex-Typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

Martin¹,

Little²

1990

Child Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our goal was to explore how children's understanding of gender as a social category relates to their acquisition of sex-typed knowledge and preferences. Children's gender concepts, sex-typed preferences, and stereotyped knowledge were measured in 61 boys and girls (3-5 years). Gender concept measures included ability to identify and to discriminate the sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender, and gender consistency over situational changes. Children improved with age on most of the measures except gender consistency. With the exception of consistency, measures of gender concept understanding were found to be related to children's stereotyped toy and clothing knowledge and/or to their sex-typed toy preferences (with age controlled). It was shown that only rudimentary gender understanding is needed prior to children learning about sex stereotypes and prior to showing strong sex-typed preferences for peers or toys. The roles of gender identity, stability, consistency, and group membership in the sex-typing process are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children's Sex-Typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

Martin¹,

Little²

1990

Child Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Secondly, the start of formal schooling is the period of time when children are developing the cognitive understanding that their gender is xed, and that it will always remain the same. Following Kohlberg (1966), relatively recent studies have provided evidence that children's understanding of the permanence of their gender group membership is gradually laid down between the ages of approximately 4 and 7 years (for example, Wehren & De Lisi, 1983;Leonard & Archer, 1989;Maccoby, 1990;De Lisi & Gallagher, 1991). The development of this understanding is likely to affect the child's behaviour, especially regarding choices of such things as toys, activities and playmates.…”

Section: An Illustration From the First Transition To Formal Schoolingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Gender as an Aspect of Identity at Key Transition Points in Compulsory Education

Jackson

Warin

2000

British Educational Res J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article focuses upon the role of gender as a signi cant aspect of self-concept, one that acquires particular salience at times of transition in a person's life. We suggest that transitional phases intensify the sociocultural processes of identity construction, and that gender acquires particular salience as an aspect of identity at these times of transition. Both authors have undertaken studies that focused on gender as an aspect of identity during key transitional phases of the school career, one focused on the rst transition to formal schooling and the other on the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Illustrations will be drawn from both these studies to support the suggestion that the social category of gender functions as a means of providing a schematic principle for 'coping' with transitions. We outline a programme for further empirical research that could be employed to develop and explore this suggestion further.

show abstract

“…Kohlberg (1966) suggested that there is a 2-year lag between the time a child learns to self-label correctly and the time he or she learns to label others correctly according to social-conventional cues. In fact, although gender constancy for self and others are significantly correlated (e.g., Zucker, Bradley, Kuksis, et al, 1999), children evidence gender constancy for self earlier than they evidence gender constancy for others (e.g., Bem, 1989;Gouze & Nadelman, 1980;Marcus & Overton, 1978;Szkrybalo & Ruble, 1999;Wehrens & De Lisi, 1983) and especially for opposite-sex others (Leonard & Archer, 1989). For instance, Shields and Duveen (1986) found that although the majority of children aged 3½-5½ indicated that their own sex could not change, 80% of them thought that the gender of another child, shown to them in a figure drawing, could change with variations in external appearance (i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Israeli kindergarten children's gender constancy for others' counter‐stereotypic toy play and appearance: the role of sibling gender and relative age

Karniol

2008

Infant and Child Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To test divergent theoretical predictions as to the impact of having a younger or older, same-sex sibling or opposite-sex sibling on other gender constancy, Israeli kindergarten children in two-child families responded to a gender constancy task in which a male and female picture target engaged in counterstereotypic toy play and adopted counter-stereotypic appearance. Children were also asked whether the target child could change sex at will and to explain the difference between boys and girls. Relative age of sibling, both independently and in interaction with participant sex, was associated with greater gender constancy in the face of counter-stereotypic toy play. Relative age of sibling and sibling sex was independently associated with greater gender constancy in the face of counter-stereotypic appearance. In both cases, children with a younger sibling evidenced greater gender constancy. Boys, especially ones with a male sibling, referred most explicitly to target's birth sex in accounting for his or her being unable to change sex at will. Genital and anatomical differences between boys and girls were cited more often by children who referred explicitly to target's birth sex and had a younger sibling. The results were discussed in the context of theories of gender development and the socialization of gender within the family.

show abstract

The Development of Gender Understanding: Judgments and Explanations

Cited by 30 publications

References 18 publications

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children's Sex-Typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children's Sex-Typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

The Importance of Gender as an Aspect of Identity at Key Transition Points in Compulsory Education

Israeli kindergarten children's gender constancy for others' counter‐stereotypic toy play and appearance: the role of sibling gender and relative age

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About