User:IBSloat/Gender roles in childhood

Children's Expression of Gender Identity
Testing infants is complex and challenging and determining the right age that a child develops their sense of sex or other’s sex. A baby does not decide if it is a boy or a girl, but it is decided by others if the child is feminine or masculine. Sex differences as children play start at 17 months. Children start understanding gender differences at that age influences gender stereotypes in play, where boys play with certain toys and girls with others.[2] However, all children need support, love, and care from family, school, and society, which fosters growth into happy and healthy adults.[1]

School and Friendships
Interaction with peers at school, as well as influence by other socialization agents are incredibly important to the development of children. Studies have found that boys and girls interact with same-sex peers more frequently than with opposite-sex peers. A different study found boys and girls were found to engage in highly similar frequencies of dyadic interaction. However, girls engaged in more extended dyadic interaction and boys in greater number of episodes. This study found this to be true at both 4 and 6 years, indicating that sex differences in patterns of dyadic interaction emerge before 5 years of age. A study looked at dyadic friendships, which is believed to be the preferred form of relationship for girls, and found that bonds between males are more durable than those between females.[4] This study reports that beginning as early as 6 years old, external observers report fewer males' than females' same-sex friendships had ended. undefined

By the time children are entering preschool or kindergarten, they have a general understanding of male and female gender and have internalized some basic schemas regarding the roles and appearances of each. When children at school have the opportunity to do so, they often separate themselves into gender-based groups. For example, division in the lunchroom, hallway, on the playground, etc, demonstrate that same-sex preferences in children dominate the way they think about and associate with school.

Stereotypes in the Media
From birth, children are able to quickly learn that a great deal of their lives deal with masculinity and femininity.[4]  For preschool-aged children, an important source of such information is the picture books written specifically for their age group, which are often read and reread to them in their impressionable years. In a study done by Oskamp, Kaufman, and Wolterbeek, it was found that in picture books for the preschool audience, the male characters played the more active and explorative role and the female characters played the more passive and social role.

Another significant factor that demonstrates gendered messages is television programs. According to a report by CNN Health, the gendered stereotype messages stick with children because they are designed to be played during the crucial developmental stages of a child’s life when they are most receptive to this influence. The characters that are being depicted in media demonstrate very stereotypical qualities, such as boys being more strong and brave, and girls being more weak and fearful. This same CNN report mentions that the influence of media on impressionable young children can become so ingrained in their minds, that it could even affect their career choices, relationships, and even their sense of self. Even with Disney movies, this idea of gender stereotypes is prominent within Disney princesses, as it demonstrates that a woman ‘needs to be saved by a man.’

A study done by Powel and Abel analyzed how sex-role stereotypes in television programs such as Teletubbies and Barney are aimed at the preschool audience. In their analysis, Powel and Abel found that gendered messages and behaviour is present in preschool television programming and this was found through eight different themes. Out of the eight themes five of them, being: leadership, appearance, gendered roles, occupations, and play roles, were significantly gendered.

According to a study examining Hulu’s television programming for children, the absence of certain behaviours could be just as problematic to the development of gender roles in children, than what is being depicted on screen. Furthermore, absences of female characters showing traits of strength, and bravery, and male characters showing traits of affection for example, create negative stereotypes for children as well. This is because children are being told how men and women should behave.

Environmental and Parental Influences
When children are first born, they are treated differently according to sex by those around them. How a child is treated will accumulate and begin to influence how a child behaves, reacts, and understands themselves. Parents decorate children's rooms differently to express their idea of what the child's gender will be/ are, boys' rooms have cars, sports equipment, and girls have dolls, multi-colored clothing and lots of pink. The stereotyping of a child begins before they are born and goes on their whole life. Expectations for children's future adult lives, like financial success or future care giving, may lead parents to encourage certain behaviors in children.[1] Girls generally do more housework than boys and the type of housework assigned to children largely depends on gender.[3] Thus, household dynamics further advance gender role expectations on children.[4][5] Also, when both children have encountered difficulty, girls are encouraged to solve problems based on focusing on internal emotion expression and adjustment while boys are encouraged to deal with external entity problems.[10 Children's toy preferences are significantly related to parental sex-typing, such as girls playing with dolls and boys participating in sports.[6][7] While both fathers and mothers encourage traditional gender roles in their children, fathers tend to encourage these roles more frequently than mothers.[6] By choosing their children's activities, parents are directly influencing their gender role views and preferences onto their children and shaping expectations.[8] For boys whose father discloses emotions more than the others, boys show a similar level of disclosing emotions with girls,[11] and for the parent who is both emotional expressive, their son will view emotions disclosure as a normal practice rather than attributed it as a female way of acting.[10] Searle & Meara 1999 found that among college men, people who are securely attached are less likely to suppress their emotions but feel more comfortable expressing it.[12] Besides secure attachment, three other attachment styles are more likely to value success, power, control, and competition that are considered as traditionally masculine traits, in order to make up the lacking sense of security.[13]Parental disapproval for failing to comply with gender norms and parental approval for successful compliance with these norms can serve to solidify children's understanding of gender roles.[1] However, most parental behaviors remain uninfluenced by the gender of the child, including speaking to, playing, teaching, and caretaking.[2].

Hughes suggested that there is  a greater tendency for girls to use understanding of mind to seek emotional support, empathize, and cooperate.[2] Children can learn about emotions in a few different ways, by witnessing others’ feelings and emotions, having their emotional displays responded to, and lastly through being taught about their feelings and emotions.[3

Girls’ emotional socialization has in a way been more developed because of this.[4] Not only do girls understand emotions better but, they are also better than boys at applying cultural standards of emotion expression in everyday life.[5] One example of this is, girls may show a greater tendency than boys to use their increasing understanding of mind to elicit emotional support, or to develop their skills of empathy and cooperation.[2] Gender roles in childhood