Parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards pre-school boys and girls gender behavior

Abstract

Objective: Parents and surrounding adults create conditions not only for the physical and safe development of the child but also for the development of his attitudes, and understanding of the world, including gender attitudes and behavior. In this article, we present the study aimed to identify how parents and teachers appraise the gender behavior of preschool boys and girls. Method: We studied the results of 474 participants: 316 parents (158 married couples) of preschool children (average age 5.3) and 158 daycare teachers, who communicate with the child almost every day and know him well. One parent described the usual child’s gender behavior by answering the Pre-school Activities Inventory (PSAI), and the other parent and daycare teacher were interviewed about the usual child’s gender behavior. Results: The statistical analysis of the data let us conclude that within one culture parents and other adults communicating with the child appraise the gender behavior of male children similarly. Parents of both genders as well as teachers interpret boys’ behavior as more gender-specific than girls’ behavior. All surrounding adults interpret girls’ behavior as more gender-neutral than boys’. Conclusion: There is a difference in attitudes, perceptions, and evaluation of preschool boys’ and girls’ gender behavior by parents and teachers, which is expressed in leveling the gender specificity of girls’ behavior.