Gender differences in developmental links among antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection in childhood: results from two cultures

This study addressed gender differences in the developmental links among antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection. High and increasing, moderate, and low antisocial developmental trajectories were identified among 289 Dutch children, ages 7 to 10, and 445 French-Canadian children, ages 9 to 12. Only boys followed the high trajectory. These boys had more deviant friends and were more often rejected than other children. A minority of girls followed the moderate antisocial behavior trajectory. These girls had fewer deviant friends than moderate antisocial boys, but moderate antisocial boys and girls were equally likely to be rejected. The influence of friends and poor peer relations plays a crucial but different role in the development of antisocial behavior among boys and girls.     

The Relationship Between Maternal Beliefs and Behavior During Shared Reading

The goal of the present study was to increase understanding of the connection between maternal beliefs and behavior during shared reading and to examine the relation of these maternal beliefs to children's reading engagement. The study included survey and observational data from an ethnically diverse sample of 50 mothers and their 5- to 6-year-old children. As predicted, mothers who believed that shared reading should involve learning showed more learning-focused behaviors. Similarly, the belief that reading should be fun predicted more positive interactions. Some relationships between beliefs and behavior were moderated by gender. For girls, higher maternal expectations for children's future reading grades were associated with better scaffolding, but this pattern was not found for boys. There was a positive relationship between mothers' belief that reading should be fun and their sons' engagement. No gender differences were found in maternal expectations and beliefs or in observed maternal learning-focused behaviors or positive support. However, girls were observed to be significantly more engaged during the reading interaction. These results point to the connections between maternal beliefs and behaviors during shared reading, as well as the need to consider child gender in understanding these connections.     

Mathematical ability of 10-year-old boys and girls: genetic and environmental etiology of typical and low performance

The genetic and environmental etiologies of 3 aspects of low mathematical performance (math disability) and the full range of variability (math ability) were compared for boys and girls in a sample of 5,348 children age 10 years (members of 2,674 pairs of same-sex and opposite-sex twins) from the United Kingdom (UK). The measures, which we developed for Web-based testing, included problems from 3 domains of mathematics taught as part of the UK National Curriculum. Using quantitative genetic model-fitting analyses, similar results were found for math disabilities and abilities for all 3 measures: Moderate genetic influence and environmental influence were mainly due to nonshared environmental factors that were unique to the individual, with little influence from shared environment. No sex differences were found in the etiologies of math abilities and disabilities. We conclude that low mathematical performance is the quantitative extreme of the same genetic and environmental factors responsible for variation throughout the distribution.     

Age and gender specific sexual behaviors in children

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present research was to explore the sexual behaviors of 2- to 7-year-old children through reports of day-care personnel. An overall aim of this exploratory study was to provide information about the frequencies of child sexual behaviors. Also, the aim was to explore any age and gender differences. METHOD: A representative sample of 364 Finnish children not screened for developmental delay, sexual abuse history or psychiatric problems (181 girls and 183 boys) in 190 day-care centers were studied using the "Day-Care Sexuality Questionnaire" (DCSQ), with 244 sexual and other behavior items. RESULTS: Age influenced more the extent of the 244 sexual behaviors of boys than of girls. In sexual behaviors increasing with age, girls showed behaviors with a more social character, whereas boys showed more explorative and information-seeking behaviors. Girls had a higher frequency of domestic and gender role exploring behaviors, whereas the boys tended to engage in explorative acting and information-seeking behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that child sexual behavior reported by day-care personnel may provide useful information about the development of children's sexuality. Implications for sexual abuse investigations were discussed.     

Gender Differences in Child Aggression: Relations With Gender‐Differentiated Parenting and Parents’ Gender‐Role Stereotypes

This longitudinal study examines the association between child gender and child aggression via parents’ physical control, moderated by parents’ gender‐role stereotypes in a sample of 299 two‐parent families with a 3‐year‐old child in the Netherlands. Fathers with strong stereotypical gender‐role attitudes and mothers were observed to use more physical control strategies with boys than with girls, whereas fathers with strong counterstereotypical attitudes toward gender roles used more physical control with girls than with boys. Moreover, when fathers had strong attitudes toward gender roles (stereotypical or counterstereotypical), their differential treatment of boys and girls completely accounted for the gender differences in children's aggressive behavior a year later. Mothers’ gender‐differentiated parenting practices were unrelated to gender differences in child aggression.     

The role of child gender and ethnicity in teacher–child relationship quality and children's behavioral adjustment in preschool

The present study examined the role of child gender, child ethnicity, and teacher–child ethnic match in moderating the association between teacher–child relationship quality and children's classroom behavioral adjustment. The study was conducted using data from an ethnically diverse sample of 301 Head Start children and their teachers. Teacher–child conflict was found to be a stronger predictor of hostile–aggressive behavior for boys than girls. In contrast, teacher–child closeness was found to be more predictive of school competence for girls than boys. Similar patterns of association were found between teacher–child relationship quality and school behavioral adjustment for Non-Hispanic, white children and those of Mexican-origin. Results also revealed that teacher–child ethnic match did not moderate the association between teacher–child relationship quality and child behavioral adjustment.     

教师的性别角色观：“阴盛阳衰”现象的重要成因

"阴盛阳衰"现象作为当前的一个热点话题引起社会广泛关注。这种现象受现行的教育教学评价体系、家庭教育方式、文化传播、教师的性别角色观等因素影响。其中,教师的性别角色观尤其值得关注。对301名广东省中小学教师性别角色观调查显示:教师的性别角色观存在双性化倾向,理想男生和理想女生的主要特质没有显著差异;教师的双性化性别角色观利于女生发展。理想男生和理想女生的独有特质体现了性别刻板印象,说明教师的性别角色观也受传统文化的一定影响。总的看,双性化是教师性别角色观的一个误区,也是"阴盛阳衰"现象的重要成因。     

Fundamental motor skills,nutritional status,perceived competence,and school performance of Brazilian children in social vulnerability: Gender comparison

Being at risk or in social vulnerability situations can affect important aspects of child development. The aim of this study was to investigate fundamental motor skills (locomotor and object control) and school (writing, arithmetic, reading) performances, the perceived competence and the nutritional status of girls and boys living in social vulnerability in the poorest regions of Brazil. Two hundred eleven (211) children (87 girls, 41%), 7–10-year-old (M = 8.3, SD = 0.9), from public schools in Ceará (Brazil), living in social vulnerability, participated in the study. Children were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development – 2, the Body Mass Index (BMI), the Self-Perception Profile for Children, and the School Performance Test. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), adjusted for age, did not show any significant effect for locomotion. There was an effect of gender on the object control. Boys showed higher scores in striking, kicking, throwing, and rolling a ball. Quade's nonparametric analysis showed no difference in BMI between the genders. Most children presented healthy weight. The MANCOVA showed no effect of gender on children’s scores on perceived competence on the subscales; moderate scores were found for most children. There were no gender effects on school performance; both boys and girls demonstrated inferior performance. Boys and girls in social vulnerability showed inferior performance in most motor skills, moderate perceived competence and inferior school performance. These results reveal that the appropriate development of these children is at risk and that intervention strategies should be implemented to compensate the difficulties presented.     

Why do girls do better in reading than boys? How parental emotional contagion explains gender differences in reading achievement

Previous studies that attempted to explain why girls often perform better than boys in reading have emphasized the role of values and beliefs, with little attention paid to the role of emotions. This study focused on the role of parent–child emotional contagion in explaining gender differences, by investigating how parents’ reading emotion predicts students’ reading emotion and subsequent reading achievement. The data that was used was from a subsample of students from the Program for International Students Assessment (n = 84,429) from 14 countries. Multi-group structural equation modeling was conducted to assess a model of parents’ enjoyment of reading predicting reading achievement through students’ enjoyment of reading. Results provided support for a model of parents’ enjoyment of reading, predicting students 'enjoyment of reading, and subsequent reading achievement for both girls and boys. However, the indirect effect of parents’ enjoyment of reading on reading achievement through students’ enjoyment of reading was found to be stronger in girls than in boys. Findings emphasize the important role of parents’ emotions on student outcomes and how gender biases in a certain context can affect the extent to which parents’ emotions can influence student achievement.     

Testosterone during pregnancy and gender role behavior of preschool children: a longitudinal,population study

Levels of testosterone (T) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were measured in blood samples from pregnant women and related to gender role behavior in 342 male and 337 female offspring at the age of 3.5 years. Gender role behavior was assessed using the Pre-School Activities Inventory, a standardized measure on which a parent indicates the child's involvement with sex-typical toys, games, and activities. Levels of T, but not SHBG, related linearly to gender role behavior in preschool girls. Neither hormone related to gender role behavior in boys. Other factors, including the presence of older brothers or sisters in the home, parental adherence to traditional sex roles, the presence of a male partner in the home, and maternal education, did not relate to gender role behavior in this sample and did not account for the relation observed between T and behavior. Although other, unmeasured factors may explain the relation, the results suggest that normal variability in T levels prenatally may contribute to the development of individual differences in the gender role behavior of preschool girls.     

How gender stereotypes of students and significant others are related to motivational and affective outcomes in mathematics at the end of secondary school

We examined associations between the explicit mathematics-related gender stereotypes of students, parents, teachers, and classmates and students’ motivational-affective outcomes in mathematics (self-concept, interest, anxiety) at the end of Grade 9. Based on representative data from the German Trends in Student Achievement 2018 study (N = 30,019), results of latent multilevel mixture models show that boys’ and girls’ explicit beliefs in the stereotype favoring their own gender in-group (i.e., boys’/girls’ belief that boys/girls do better at mathematics) were related to higher levels of self-concept and interest and to lower anxiety. Parents’ gender stereotypes showed an incremental association with all three outcomes for girls but only with mathematics self-concept for boys. Gender stereotypes of teachers were not related to students’ outcomes. However, classmates’ stereotypes favoring girls or boys in mathematics were negatively associated with outcomes of the positively stereotyped group. Thus, a male student in a classroom with classmates who share the traditional stereotype that boys do better at mathematics than girls would hold a lower self-concept and interest and higher anxiety level after controlling for the beneficial individual association of himself having the same belief and his motivational and affective outcomes. Similarly, a girl’s motivational-affective outcomes would be more favorable in the same environment characterized by the shared traditional stereotype of mathematics as a male domain after controlling for the negative individual association. Shared stereotypes in the classroom could thus trigger social comparison processes to which students are more susceptible than to stereotypes of their teachers.     

The Closing of the Gender Gap in Schooling: The case of Thailand

The results from the 1990 national census indicate that the long standing gender gap in educational attainment favouring boys over girls has closed in Thailand at all levels. This occurred as responses to generalized questions on attitudes about schooling for boys and girls on nationally representative surveys are showing a substantial reduction in the preference for educating sons more than daughters, although some preference for sons persists. Qualitative data from focus group discussions in rural areas reveal that parental views on gender and schooling are complex and do not operate uniformly to favour one sex over the other. Moreover, the changing socioeconomic context of schooling decisions in Thailand are likely to encourage parents to favour girls at least as much as boys in education. While gender inequality in schooling is no longer important, the socioeconomic level continues to influence starkly Thai children's chances for higher levels of education.     

Testosterone during Pregnancy and Gender Role Behavior of Preschool Children: A Longitudinal, Population Study

Levels of testosterone (T) and sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) were measured in blood samples from pregnant women and related to gender role behavior in 342 male and 337 female offspring at the age of 3.5 years. Gender role behavior was assessed using the Pre–School Activities Inventory, a standardized measure on which a parent indicates the child's involvement with sex–typical toys, games, and activities. Levels of T, but not SHBG, related linearly to gender role behavior in preschool girls. Neither hormone related to gender role behavior in boys. Other factors, including the presence of older brothers or sisters in the home, parental adherence to traditional sex roles, the presence of a male partner in the home, and maternal education, did not relate to gender role behavior in this sample and did not account for the relation observed between T and behavior. Although other, unmeasured factors may explain the relation, the results suggest that normal variability in T levels prenatally may contribute to the development of individual differences in the gender role behavior of preschool girls.     

Boys as only‐children and girls as only‐children—parental gendered expectations of the only‐child in the nuclear Chinese family in present‐day China

Studies on the effect of only‐child status on girls’ education indicate that the only‐child policy has had an unintended consequence of engendering a child‐centered culture with a strong belief and shared interest among the urban community in educating the only‐child regardless of the child’s sex. As the distribution of education by sex is frequently argued to be a key determinant for gender inequality, this finding seems to carry an unquestioned message that gender equality has been largely achieved for the only‐child generation. So far, however, few studies have examined parental gender‐specific expectations for their only children as an important factor in preparing boys and girls for their different school and social experiences. Based on data collected through semi‐structured interviews with 20 families in north China, this paper explores parental gender‐specific expectations of their only‐children. Parents’ SES is also considered in order to see how class may interact with gender in parents’ expectations for boys and girls as only‐children. The study reveals patterns of differences in parental expectations based on gender, and to a lesser degree, class. The author argues that it would be over‐optimistic to believe that only‐child status and the equally high academic aspirations parents hold for boys and girls have done away with all the deep‐rooted factors against gender equality in Chinese society. Drawing on Bourdieu’s social theory, the author discusses the implications of the findings and provides suggestions for policy efforts and further research.     

Being mean: children’s gendered perceptions of peer teasing

Recent research suggests that social cognition may play a role in the connections among gendered experiences of teasing within the grade school classroom. Within the framework of social-cognitive developmental theory, this qualitative research study investigates how gender may influence young children’s experiences and perception of teasing within the context of peer relationships. The present study explored the role gender plays in 89 Canadian children’s (4–9 years of age, 39 girls, 50 boys) perceptions of peer teasing through participants’ drawings and accompanying narratives. Results indicate that gender may help shape girls’ and boys’ perceptions of peer teasing in the classroom and suggest the need for educators to build a school culture of kindness, peace, and compassion to enhance children’s social-emotional lives.     

If 'we' can succeed, 'I' can too: Identity-based motivation and gender in the classroom

Gender matters in the classroom, but not in the way people may assume; girls are outperforming boys. Identity-Based Motivation (IBM) theory explains why: People prefer to act in ways that feel in-line with important social identities such as gender. If a behavior feels identity-congruent, difficulty is interpreted as meaning that the behavior is important, not impossible, but what feels identity-congruent is context-dependent. IBM implies that boys (and girls) scan the classroom for clues about how to be male (or female); school effort will feel worthwhile if successful engagement with school feels gender-congruent, not otherwise. A between-subjects experimental design tested this prediction, manipulating whether gender and success felt congruent, incongruent, or not linked (control). Students in the success is gender-congruent condition described more school-focused possible identities, rated their likely future academic and occupational success higher, and tried harder on an academic task (this latter effect was significant only for boys).     

‘Troublesome boys’ and ‘compliant girls’: gender identity and perceptions of achievement and underachievement

Working within a methodological framework that identified four focus groups, high‐achieving boys and girls and underachieving boys and girls, this article presents teachers' perceptions of how gender identity is seen to influence achievement levels. Beliefs about gender identity informed the teachers' perceptions in relation to each of the four focus groups, whereby the underachieving boy and the high‐achieving girl were seen to conform to gender expectations; the high‐achieving boys were seen to challenge gender norms; and the underachieving girl emerges as largely overlooked. The perceived characteristics of the high‐achieving girl are presented as describing all girls. There appears to be a tendency to associate boys with underachievement and girls with high achievement.     

A Twin Study of Attachment in Preschool Children

The degree to which individual differences in child-parent attachment were mediated by genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences was investigated. One hundred and ten preschool-aged twin pairs (N = 220) were assessed in the Strange Situation and coded using conventional four-way classifications and a continuous measure of attachment security. The degree of sibling similarity in attachment was substantial, with an overall concordance rate of 67% at the secure/insecure level. The degree of concordance was equally high in monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs, 70% and 64%, respectively, suggesting little genetic influence but a moderate degree of discordance. Twin similarity on the continuous measure of attachment security was r(57) = .48 and r(53) = .38 for monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs, respectively, also consistent with a modest role for genetic influence but a significant effect for shared and nonshared environment. The implications for genetic influences on the environment and for understanding nonshared and shared environmental influences are discussed.     

An adoption study of the etiology of teacher and parent reports of externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood

Twin studies of externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood and early adolescence suggest that there is moderate-to-substantial genetic variance and modest-to-moderate shared environmental variance in these behaviors. The present study is novel in three ways: it is a sibling adoption study, it employs both teacher and parent ratings of children's behaviors averaged over five assessments, and it explores aggression and delinquency separately. The sample included 78 adoptive sibling pairs and 94 biologically related sibling pairs in the Colorado Adoption Project. Parents and teachers completed ratings of the children's externalizing behavior problems at ages 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12 years. Boys and adopted children were rated as being somewhat higher in externalizing behavior problems. Sex differences in delinquency were more pronounced in adoptive than in nonadoptive families. Teachers' ratings showed evidence for moderate heritability and no shared environment for aggression and showed modest shared environment for delinquency. Parents' ratings showed evidence for moderate amounts of heritability and shared environment for both aggression and delinquency.     

Behavior Problems of African American Boys and Girls Attending Head Start Programs in Violent Neighborhoods

This article examined behavior problems exhibited by African American children attending Head Start centers in violent neighborhoods. Children's scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)/parent form were compared to the mean scores for the CBCL's non-clinical standardization sample on the internalizing, externalizing, and total problem scales. The Head Start children's scores were not significantly different from the standardization sample on the internalizing scale, but both boys and girls in the study sample had significantly higher scores on the externalizing and total problem scales than their respective gender group in the standardization sample. There were no significant differences in the T scores of boys and girls in this study on any of the three behavior problem scales. The study also examined percentages of boys and girls with behavior problems in the more severe ranges. Higher percentages of boys than girls had severe internalizing problems, while higher percentages of girls than boys had severe externalizing problems. Analyses of total behavior problem scores revealed no significant differences between boys and girls in the severe ranges. Implications of findings for research, practice, and policy are discussed within the sociocultural contexts of the families and communities in the study.