The Development of Sex Typing in Middle Childhood

Abstract

The present study examined the development of sex typing during middle childhood, using a sample of 558 children aged 5-12 years. The purpose of the study was to provide information about the developmental course and stability of various aspects of sex typing during this period and to examine the relative contributions of cognitive and environmental factors to sex-role development. Multiple measures of sex typing were obtained, including indices of personal preference, knowledge of stereotypes, and flexibility in the domains of activities, occupations, and traits. We also collected information about the child's cognitive maturity, exposure to sex-typed models at home, and socioeconomic status. Results supported the need for an integrative theory of sex-role development, incorporating factors emphasized by cognitive-developmental, schematic-processing, and social learning theories. Knowledge of stereotypes, flexibility, and sex-typed personal preferences all increased with age during middle childhood. There were also individual differences in sex typing that were stable over a 1-year period. Distinct "cognitive" and "affective" aspects of sex typing were identified using a principal components analysis. Cognitive elements (flexibility and knowledge of stereotypes) were largely a function of the child's cognitive maturity level, although social-environmental factors such as father's presence in the home also had some effect. Affective elements (sex-typed preferences for activities, occupations, and peers), on the other hand, were related more consistently to sex typing of the home environment. Children whose mothers frequently modeled "reversed" sex-role behaviors (i.e., traditionally "masculine" household and child-care tasks) were less sex typed in their own preferences. However, cognitive factors were also important, in that children who believed gender stereotypes to be flexible were less sex typed in their choices of activities, occupations, and peers. In sum, both cognitive maturation and socialization experiences contribute to the development of sex typing during middle childhood. Potential practical implications of these findings, as well as implications for stereotyping in other social domains such as race and ethnicity, are discussed.

Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: developmental or differential?

“…Although previous investigations, including longitudinal studies, have shown the same increase in stereotype flexibility after age 6 that we found in this study (e.g. Serbin et al, 1993), previous analyses have not considered the possibility that this growing flexibility is connected to an earlier period of rigidity in a fundamental, almost stage-like, way. The present findings show that children follow a very similar pattern of rigidity followed by flexibility, regardless of what age rigidity occurs and regardless of their level of peak rigidity.…”

Single‐parent families: the role of parent’s and child’s gender on academic achievement

“…Serbin, Powlishta, and Gulko (1993) found flexibility and knowledge of gender stereotypes to be largely a function of the child's maturity level. They note, however, that sex-typed behaviour was modelled on what children observed by their parents.…”

Toys, Sociocognitive Traits, and Occupations: Italian Children's Endorsement of Gender Stereotypes

“…The knowledge of occupational gender stereotypes seems to be present in children as young as 3 years old and it tends to increase with age (e.g., Martin & Little, 1990); children also continue to aspire to gender-typed jobs (e.g., Etaugh & Liss, 1992;Sellers, Satcher, & Comas, 1999) towards which they have more positive affective reactions (Levy, Sadovsky, & Troseth, 2000). Serbin, Powlishta, and Gulko (1993) examined the development of gender-typing in a sample of children ages 5 to 12 years, using multiple measures of gender-typing, including indices of knowledge of stereotypes and flexibility in the domains of activities, occupations, and traits (cognitive elements) and indices of personal preference, such as gender-typed preferences for activities, occupations, and peers (affective elements). Their results supported the need for an integrative theory of sex-role development, incorporating factors emphasized by cognitive-developmental, schematic-processing, and social learning theories.…”