Factors Influencing Children’s Perception of Gender Roles and Their Psychological Impact: Evidence From Sociology and Psychology

Abstract

Gender stereotypes are ubiquitous and often have negative consequences. However, they are common in children’s media, toys, and stories. Awareness of these gender stereotypes can hugely influence children’s perception of gender roles. Further, family-related factors, such as familial makeup, parenting, and siblings order, may be crucial in children’s acquisition of gender knowledge, which may later affect children’s wellbeing, career aspirations, peer choices, and academic performance. In order to better understand factors influencing children’s perception of gender roles and what psychological impacts they have, we integrated findings across the fields of sociology and psychology. We reviewed literature on the roles of the media, family, toys, and stories in shaping children’s perception of gender roles across sociological and psychological journals. We only included papers discussing factors and impacts on children aged two to fourteen. The findings from this review indicate that children’s media, toys, and stories commonly portray a disproportionate distribution and stereotypical gender representation of male and female characters. Besides, familial factors can influence children’s perception of gender roles and gender flexibility. Findings underline harmful impacts gender stereotypes may have on children, ranging from mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints to bullying, problematic peer relations, impaired academic performance, and school misconduct. Given the prevalence of gender-stereotypical ideas embedded in parenting and children’s media, toys, and literature and their negative impacts, we should be working to reduce the adverse impact of these stereotypes on children.