Gender Stereotypes In Children Research Articles

The development of explicit occupational gender stereotypes in children: Comparing perceived gender ratios and competence beliefs

Overcoming gender occupational stereotypes is a major educational objective in removing barriers to children's future career ambitions and employment aspirations. Yet, the mechanisms that underlie the development of occupational stereotypes in school-age children remain unclear. This questionnaire study investigates the developmental relationship between two possible factors contributing to occupational stereotype development, perceptions of occupational gender ratio and personal beliefs about occupational competence, across the primary school years. One questionnaire assessed beliefs about the occupations held by men and women, by asking 195 children, aged 6 to 11 (UK Years 2 to 6), to report on the gender ratio of 24 occupations (e.g., who does a specific job) on a 5-point Likert scale (only males, mostly males, both, mostly females or only females). A second questionnaire assessed stereotyped attitudes by asking 194 children of comparable age to judge the competence of men and women (e.g., who can do a specific job very well) on the same scale. We found that children across age groups predominantly assigned men and women to traditionally male and female occupations, respectively, both in terms of perceived distribution and competence. However, while the perceived distribution of men and women remained stable across the sexes and age groups, stereotyped responding for competence was lower in girls than in boys, and decreased with age in both sexes for traditionally male and gender-neutral (but not for traditionally female), occupations. Some occupations which have become less gender-segregated in the workforce (e.g., Doctor, Head teacher), are also becoming more gender-balanced in children's beliefs. Taken together these results suggest that children's occupational stereotypes are influenced by developmental differences in children's understanding of gender, as well as perceptions about what jobs women and men have. We conclude by discussing practical implications for targeted interventions aimed at reducing occupational stereotyping in children.

Raising Awareness of Stereotyping Through Collaborative Digital Storytelling: Design for Change with and for Children

The purpose of our research is to use design as a mean to support children becoming more aware of stereotypes in their own artefacts. We have been facing this challenge leveraging on Digital StoryTelling (DST) as a powerful instrument to detect children's beliefs and values including those connecting to gender. In addition, considering the role of social interactions in creating and reproducing gender stereotypes in children we have been focusing on the collaborative creation of digital stories to investigate stereotypes as a cultural product. The goal of the paper is to give an account of our process of digging into this topic and our design pathway in developing and assess a DST prototype directed to raise children's awareness. Our work main contribution is to spread insight on our approach and support the HCI community to replicate it to challenge the negative effect of stereotypes, and to provide new knowledge on how gender stereotype awareness could be raised among children through the collaborative creation of DST. As a final research contribution we provide a set of design recommendations to address the design of a collaborative DST tool for raising stereotype awareness.

„One Day he Will Find me and Save me”. The Dream for Prince Known from the Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault and Brothers Grimm and the Accompanying Illustrations

Magic stories are extremely difficult to analyze, as they have both folklore (oral) and literary (written) existence, they are oriented towards the little ones, but at the same time they send messages to the adults and last but not least – they are almost always accompanied by illustrations, which further complicate and expand the meaning of the written. Artists become "translators" who have to adapt the content to the specific needs of the particular audience and the peculiarities of its time. Millions of children around the world have shaped their understanding of the roles of man and woman and the relationship between gender and behavior based on the well-known stories of ordinary girls rescued by princes, unusually appeared in their lives. This article will analyze the verbal and pictorial representation of the main characters in two of the most famous fairytales – "Cinderella" and "The Sleeping Beauty". The aim is to highlight certain patterns that have an important contribution to the formation of gender stereotypes in children and their dreams of happy and successful life.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER PATTERNS AND TOY SELECTION OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN AGED 3-8 LIVING IN ISTANBUL

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between children and their parents' gender stereotype judgments and toy choices. The study is descriptive and relationship-seeking research using quantitative methods. The universe of the study is that of children aged 3-8 and their parents living in Istanbul. The sample was composed of 360 parents and 360 children selected by the purpose-built sampling method. The study was conducted by researchers through online platforms with a literature review and a survey created with expert opinion. In accordance with the purpose of the study, two forms were created, aimed at parents and aimed at Children. There are 21 Questions in the parent question form and 14 questions in the child question form. Consent was obtained from the participants at the beginning of the survey. The question form includes questions about parents' perceptions of toy choices, gender stereotypes, children's gender stereotypes, and children's toy choices. Research data was collected in April 2021. Data on sociodemographic features were obtained by frequency, number and percentage analysis. It was found using the Kolmogorov Smirnov test whether gender stereotype judgment score and toy selection scores showed normal distribution. It was found that the scores did not show normal distribution, and non-parametric tests were used. Difference analyses between the groups were obtained using the Mann Whitney U test, and the existence of a relationship between the data was obtained using the Spearman correlation analysis. As a result of this research, it was found that sociodemographic characteristics that parents have influence on gender stereotypes, as well as on their and their children's toy choices. It was concluded that the children of parents with high educational status have more egalitarian gender stereotypes and non-gender-specific toy choices compared to children of parents with low educational status. In parents who had a profession and a job where they worked, the results were found to have more egalitarian gender stereotypes than in those who did not have a profession, similar to educational status. On the other hand, parents who have a job, have more egalitarian gender stereotypes than non-working parents. Gender stereotypes for parents with low educational status and non-working and the importance of toy selection for children should be organized.

Gender Stereotype in Toy Advertisements on Social Networking Sites

Marketing and advertising messages are often designed to persuade and influence the consumers into purchasing the products or services usually designed based on market segmentation and target consumers. This segmentation may vary but the most common type of market segmentation is based on demographic information such as gender. In toy advertisements, children are the target markets. Research shows that most toy advertisements involve gender stereotypes. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the visual elements of gender stereotypes in children’s toy advertisements on social media. Using a case study approach, children’s toy advertisements on Mattel’s official Facebook page were analyzed from January 2019 to December 2019. A total of 87 relevant advertisements were gathered and subjected to content analysis focusing on gender stereotype characteristics and the presence of boy(s) or girl(s) model(s) in the advertisements. The analysis was conducted based on gender stereotype characteristics and the presence of boy or girl models in the advertisement. The findings showed that advertisements for girl toys are more frequently posted on Mattel’s official Facebook page than advertisements for boy toys. Further analysis revealed that the advertisements contained more feminine compared to masculine traits and role behaviors. However, a large majority of the advertised toys do not have emotional behaviors. It was envisaged that the findings of this study could advance our knowledge of gender stereotypes in toy advertisements.

Reading Between the Lines: Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Sport-Based Books

A child’s first contact with media and culture typically comes from books they are exposed to in the home and at school. The narratives presented contribute to the early reinforcement of gender roles and norms and can greatly influence the way that young girls perceive and experience sport. The purpose of this study was to explore the narratives within sport-based books geared toward a young female audience to determine the extent to which they promote the engagement of girls in sport. A pragmatic literature search was conducted to obtain books that met our inclusion criteria. Books (n = 28) were analyzed based on the age of their intended audience (aged 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12 years) using thematic narrative analysis. Although the authors promoted the engagement of girls in sport, underlying gender stereotypes were nevertheless salient. Across the books, themes involved the emphasis of “feminine” sports as a context for diversity and learning, the need to understand development as a process, the importance of relationships, and implications pertaining to perceptions of capability as female athletes. Most importantly, the application of a critical feminist lens enabled us to identify an underlying theme—the reinforcement of gender stereotypes—that permeated the storylines and served to undermine the potential adaptive messaging intended by authors. These findings suggest the need for greater attention toward the complexity of female sport and a cultural shift in thinking toward gender equity rather than simply increasing sport access for female participants.

Media and the Development of Gender Role Stereotypes

This review summarizes recent findings (2000–2020) concerning media's contributions to the development of gender stereotypes in children and adolescents. Content analyses document that there continues to be an underrepresentation of women and a misrepresentation of femininity and masculinity in mainstream media, although some positive changes are noted. Concerning the strength of media's impact, findings from three meta-analyses indicate a small but consistent association between frequent television viewing and expressing more stereotypic beliefs about gender. Concerning the nature of these effects, analyses indicate significant connections between young people's screen media use and their general gender role attitudes; their beliefs about the importance of appearance for girls and women; their stereotyping of toys, activities, and occupations; and their support for traditional sexual roles. We offer several approaches for moving this field forward, including incorporating additional theories (e.g., stereotype threat), focusing more on boys and ethnic minority youth, and centering developmental milestones.

Gender Stereotypes in Children's Play, Pro-social and Aggressive Behavior in the Kindergarten Class: The Kindergarten Teachers' Stance

This research paper focuses on the issue of gender stereotypes and, more particularly, on the way in which kindergarten students choose the toys and games/activities that they play and the manifestation of specific behaviors which they express in the kindergarten class. The research questions attempted to answer to the correlation of gender stereotypes and the student’s choices of toys and games/activities, and the manifestation of pro-social and aggressive behaviors in students, as well as the teachers’ views on the influence which gender stereotypes exert on students and the way teachers attempt to solve related problems. As part of the research, semi-structured interviews with ten teachers who worked in Greek kindergarten schools were conducted, in order to explore their views and attitudes on the issues stated above. The results of this research show that kindergarten teachers spot differences in kindergarten students’ choices of toys and games/activities, as well as in the behavior between boys and girls. The responses of the kindergarten teachers show that they do not all agree that the aforementioned differences are due to gender stereotypes. The results also show that kindergarten teachers are aware of the ways in which gender stereotypes affect kindergarten students in the family and the school environment. Kindergarten teachers also stated that they know how to deal with gender stereotype problems which may arise in their classes.

Frequency of Television Watching and Gender Stereotypes in Children and Adolescents A Review in the Context of Cultivation Theory

Widespread use of television has brought with it the examination of the effect of exposure to TV content on its viewers. One of the most remarkable approaches put forward in this context is the Cultivation Theory developed by Gerbner (1969). The theory, which focuses on the impact of TV viewing on individuals perceptions of reality, assumes that as the frequency of exposure to messages presented in TV increases, individuals’ perceptions of the real world are shaped according to these messages. The development of gender stereotypes and beliefs in gender equality in children and adolescents may also be fed by the “cultivation” function of TV, which is widely used by them also. The aim of this study is to systematically review the studies focuses on the relationship between frequency of watching TV and children’s or adolescents’ gender-based stereotypes in the context of Cultivation Theory. A total of 23 studies conducted between 1960 and 2020 were reviewed in this context and it was determined that both children and adolescents had more traditional beliefs and attitudes about gender roles with the increase in the frequency of watching TV. Findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature. Keywords Cultivation Theory, gender roles, watching tv, children, adolescents

Introduction

This review summarizes recent findings (2000–2020) concerning media's contributions to the development of gender stereotypes in children and adolescents. Content analyses document that there continues to be an underrepresentation of women and a ...Read More

Separation anxiety and gender variance in a community sample of children.

In clinical child and retrospective adult samples, childhood gender variance (GV; i.e., cross-gender behaviour) has been associated with separation anxiety (SA; i.e., distress related to separation from attachment figures) in males. This study examined GV and SA in a nonclinical sample of 892 boys and 933 girls aged 6-12years via parent-reports. Parental factors (i.e., parenting style, parent-child relationship, willingness to serve as an attachment figure, attitudes towards gender stereotypes in children) were examined as potential moderators. GV predicted SA in boys, even when statistically controlling for general psychopathology and demographic variables. Authoritative parenting, closeness in the parent-child relationship, willingness to serve as an attachment figure, and liberal attitudes towards gender stereotypes in children moderated the association between GV and SA in both boys and girls. Thus, SA may be a unique internalizing problem related to GV in boys in nonclinical samples and influenced by a variety of parental factors.

Impact of child and informant gender on parent and teacher ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rating scales typically provide normative tables arranged according to child age, child gender, and type of informant, which facilitates addressing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders developmental deviance requirement for diagnosing ADHD. Missing, however, is any consideration of the gender of the informant. The purpose of this paper was to conduct an exploratory examination of informant gender via secondary analyses of a large data set used to standardize the ADHD Rating Scale-5. Two (informant gender) by two (child gender) ANOVAs were conducted separately for parents and teachers using inattention (IN) symptoms, hyperactive-impulsive (HI) symptoms, the total impairment score related to IN, and the total impairment score for HI as dependent variables. Results showed that female parents rated male children significantly higher on both IN symptoms and impairment related to IN than did male parents. Female teacher ratings were also significantly higher than male teacher ratings for male children in terms of HI symptoms and with respect to impairment ratings related to both HI and IN. A significantly higher percentage of female parents (7.7%) identified male children as being at risk for ADHD relative to male parents (4.1%). This same pattern emerged for female teachers (11.9%) versus male teachers (5.3%). Such results suggest that informant gender may play a clinically meaningful role in assessing ADHD in children and adolescents, which is consistent with the developmental literature addressing gender stereotypes in children. Future research is needed to determine whether similar informant gender differences exist in other rating scale measures of ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender and Compensation: Understanding the Impact of Gender and Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Rewards

Children’s understanding of rewards for task completion was examined in the context of gender, and gender-based stereotypes. Eighty-eight children (43 girls, Moverall = 58.39 months) completed a measure assessing gender-based occupational stereotypes. This measure, along with gender, was used to predict children’s self-reward for undergoing the testing, as well as their reward for a fictional other child having undergone the same procedure. The methodology provided a novel approach for studying reward allocation in children, as it did not require children to divide resources between themselves and another child for completing the same task. An occupation-based stereotype measure was found to predict the self-reward, as well as the reward allocated to the other child. In addition, the participant’s gender predicted self-reward, and an interaction between participant gender and gender of the experimenter contributed to predicting the other child reward. Overall, these findings suggest that gender and gender-based stereotyping have an impact on reward allocation of young children. Implications of these results in the context of reward allocation research among children and adult populations are discussed.

Father Involvement, Gender Perception and Children's Gender Stereotypes

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between fathers' involvement, their gender perceptions, and the gender stereotypes of children. A relational survey model was used in this research. The sampling of the research is composed of 151 randomly selected 60 to 72-month-old children, who attended preschools in the centre of Mugla province in Turkey, and their fathers. As data collecting tools, Demographic Information Form, Father Involvement Scale (60), Perceptions of Gender Scale (3), and Gender Stereotypes Assessment Instrument (65) were utilized. According to research results, fathers' equalitarian perspective regarding gender increases their involvement levels. On the other hand, it was determined that the gender of the child and the age of their father play a significant role in their father's involvement. It was determined that there is a significant positive relation between the gender stereotypes of the child and their father's arbitrary engagement, which is one of the sub-dimensions of the father involvement scale. It was also discovered that while the fathers' income is significant in the gender stereotypes of children; factors like their occupation, age, gender perceptions, and their involvement levels are not.

Estereótipos de gênero e sexismo linguístico presentes nos livros no contexto educativo para crianças

Na Itália, desde os anos setenta, houve um debate significativo dos estudo sobre o sexismo linguístico que contribuíram para pensar a problematização da presença dos estereótipos de gênero nos livros destinados para crianças. Este artigo apresenta uma reconstrução histórica do debate desenvolvido na Itália, nos últimos quarenta anos. O debate mostrou a importância de problematizar os padrões de identidade e comportamento transmitidos através da leitura em contextos educativos e na escola. Este contexto resultou na elaboração do Projeto Polite, que convida editoras a serem respeitosas com as diferenças de gênero, tanto no texto e quanto nas imagens. Apresenta importantes pesquisas sobre a problemática da presença de mensagens estereotipadas de gênero presentes nos livros paras as crianças e as mudanças ocorridas ao longo deste processo.

Gender Representation in Children’s Books: Case of an Early Childhood Setting

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this small-scale case study was to identify and analyze key patterns in terms of gender representation in children’s books in one early childhood setting. Furthermore, this case study sought to understand the perspectives of early childhood educators on gender representation in children’s books. The researcher employed multiple methods of data collection, including content analysis of 15 children’s books, as well as reflective journal writing and professional conversation between eight educators from one early childhood center in Dublin, Ireland. Content analysis of children’s books revealed distinct gender patterns that include underrepresentation of female characters and instances of gender stereotyping. Further findings indicate that educators exhibit a lack of awareness of gender patterns and attribute limited importance to gender representation in children’s books. This research hopes to aid early childhood educators in becoming aware of gender stereotyping in children’s books, enhancing observation and reflective skills, and creating a more inclusive learning environment.

Visual Media and Communication: A Conundrum of Gender Disparity in Animated World

The verbal and visual mediums play a cardinal role in internalization of gender stereotypes in children. Being an influential form of communication, the media has an indispensable impact on the child's psyche. Besides being a mode of a method of entertainment only for youngsters, it has scholastic and socializing perspectives. Cartoon series as one such visual have provided youngsters with characters displaying behaviors and individual traits that they imbibe and internalize, thereby promoting stereotypical expectations. Gender bias in the cartoons is formulated by the stereotypes which are associated with the roles expected to be performed by a girl or boy. Gender disparity in cartoons reflects women characters as weak or inferior, bound to the household chores and male as strong or superior. Keeping in cue with the aforesaid, the research examines gender disparity prevalent in animated world and to reveal its adverse impact. The research analyzes two contemporary Indian cartoon series from the perspective of the character’s physical appearance, male/female roles in problem-solving, social roles and behavior.

Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Literature (with special reference to H.Ch. Andersen’s and W. Disney’s fairytales)

This article is devoted to the study of those concepts of masculinity and femininity that are fixed and replicated in literature. These gender stereotypes are absorbed during early childhood, when the process of gender identification takes place. We view gender identity as the process through which children acquire the characteristics, attitudes, values and behaviors that society defines as appropriate to their gender and which lead them to adopt roles and responsibilities that are prescribed to men and women. A number of stories by H.Ch. Andersen and W. Disney have been analyzed in order to determine how gender roles and sex frequency appear in children’s literaturе. It should also be noted that no theoretical reasoning and generalizations are valid unless they are corroborated and tested empirically. That is why the use of quantitative and qualitative methods of sociology in the study of gender relations is more than obvious.

"Daughter and son: a completely different story”? Gender as a moderator of the relationship between sexism and parental attitudes

<b>Background </b><br /> During childhood, parents are the first and most important individuals who form the base of the content of gender stereotypes in children. A parent’s expectations about the extent a child’s behaviour should be line with gender stereotypes also depends on the intensity of a parent’s sexism. A parent’s sexism may be exhibited in parental attitudes. Hence, in our study we analysed the relationship between parental ambivalent sexism and parental attitudes within dyads of mothers and fathers with a special focus on the role of the gender of both parents and children. <br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure </b><br /> Two hundred and ninety-four couples of parents of five-year-olds (153 girls, 141 boys) participated. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) was used to measure levels of sexism, and the Parental Attitudes Scale (SPR) was used to assess parental attitudes. <br /> <br /> <b>Results </b><br /> In terms of the profile of parental attitudes, regardless of the child’s sex, mothers and fathers scored highest for inconsequent and demanding attitudes, and lowest for overprotective and autonomy attitudes. The child’s sex is also not important for the overall levels of parents’ sexism – fathers exhibit higher levels of hostile sexism in comparison to mothers. Only the mothers’ education level is important for levels of sexism – women with higher education exhibited the lowest levels of hostile sexism. The child’s sex moderates relationships between parents’ sexism and parental attitudes. In the case of mothers of sons, the intensity of benevolent sexism is negatively related to overprotective and demanding attitudes. The more educated the mothers of sons, the more demanding they were. For fathers of sons, the inconsequence attitude increases under the influence of both hostile and benevolent sexism. Among fathers of daughters, hostile sexism strengthens the overprotective attitude, while levels of both benevolent and hostile sexism as well as education influence the autonomy attitude. <br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions </b><br /> The gender of both the parents and the child moderates the relationship between sexism and parental attitudes. The role of sexism in shaping the attitude of mothers towards sons is the most prominent – it seems that it guards the ‘manliness’ of young boys.

Children’s preferences for gender-typed objects and colours: a commentary from gender research in Spain

The main aim of this review was to examine international research on children’s preferences regarding gender-typed objects and colours. Firstly, we provide the theoretical background on gender development to elucidate the ways in which individuals can learn gender stereotypes and develop gender-related preferences. Secondly, we review international research on gender-related preferences. Thirdly, we analyse empirical studies on gender stereotypes in children conducted in Spain and Latin American countries, and show that although gender is a priority research area in these countries, studies on gender development in childhood are lacking. Thus, our aim was to identify a set of issues that provide insights into the development of gender-typed preferences, and that also suggest new directions for researchers in Spanish-speaking countries who are interested in clarifying the relationship between gender and children’s preferences for objects and colours.