Children’s intergroup gender bias and self‐perceived same‐ and other‐gender similarity

Abstract

Children display intergroup bias in relation to gender. The present study examined whether children's self-perceived same- and other-gender similarity were related to their same- and other-gender positivity and negativity, respectively. Children aged 6-10years (N=149) were interviewed about their self-perceived similarity to girls and to boys and about the extent to which they thought positive and negative characteristics applied to boys and to girls. Among girls, greater self-perceived other-gender similarity was associated with more negativity towards the same gender. Similar to previous research, intergroup gender bias was more pronounced among girls, and children rated themselves as having more same- than other-gender similarity, with this pattern being more pronounced in boys. Thus, this study provides evidence suggesting that other-gender similarity is related to girls' negative attributions towards girls. It also replicates previous findings regarding gender differences in children's intergroup gender bias and gender similarity, respectively.