Differential Maternal Socialization of Opposite-sexed Twins, Triplets, and Quadruplets

Abstract

GOSHEN-GorrTTSTEIN, ESTHER R. Differential Maternal Socialization of Opposite-sexed Twins, Triplets, and Quadruplets. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 1255-1264. This paper investigates whether mothers socialize boys and girls growing up as opposite-sexed twins, triplets, and quadruplets differently as a function of their different genders. It is based on direct observations in the homes of 2 sets of twins, 2 sets of triplets, and 3 sets of quadruplets, each set containing both sexes and visited regularly between 5 and 42 months of age. Children and mothers were rated on behaviors about which contradictory evidence had been reported in the literature. Mothers permitted more proximity seeking in boys, encouraged more helping behavior in girls, but reinforced boys' and girls' aggression almost equally. They attached sex labels only to the child who was in the minority genderwise. Mothers' sole conscious behavior in this area, the differentiation of children's appearances through dress, hairstyling, and sexappropriate activities, appeared only in the children's third year of life.