Fathers, faith, and family gender messages: Are religiosity and gender talk related to children's gender attitudes and preferences?

Abstract

This study examines the links between parents’ religiosity, the way parents implicitly talk about gender with their preschoolers, and children's gender attitudes and preferences. Additionally, we focused on the degree to which parents’ gender talk mediates the relation between religiosity and children's gender attitudes and preferences. In a sample of 134 families (81 in which at least 1 parent was Christian) with a child aged 4-6 years, we observed both parents’ gender talk while discussing the Gender Stereotypes Picture Book with their child. Fathers and mothers filled out a questionnaire to examine the importance of religion in their daily life and children were interviewed about their gender stereotypical attitudes and personal preferences for gender-typed occupations. Our study revealed that when parents are more religious, their children have more stereotypical gender attitudes. Although we found no significant mediation, we did find evidence for a specific role of (religious) fathers when it comes to communicating gender messages. That is, parents’ level of religiosity was positively related to fathers’, but not to mothers’ gender talk. Additionally, only fathers’ gender talk was positively associated with their children's gender attitudes. Our results illustrate the unique role fathers can play in children's gender development.