Gender roles are the social and behavioral norms considered appropriate in social situations for people of different genders. An understanding of these roles is evident in children as young as age 4 and are extremely important for their social development. Gender roles are influenced by the media, family, environment, and society. A child's understanding of gender roles impacts how they socialize with their peers and form relationships. Many young children have a firm sense of their gender identity, while some children can experience gender identity confusion.
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Stereotypes in the media
Young children aged around four to five years old have been shown to possess very strong gender stereotypes. In addition to parents' and teachers' intentional efforts to shape gender roles, children also learn through mass media (television, books, radio, magazines, and newspaper), to which children are exposed to everyday. For preschool-aged children an important source of such information is the picture books written specifically for their age group, and these 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. Of course, these studies completely neglect the profound effects of genetics on imposing gender-specific behavior.
From birth children are able to quickly learn that a great deal of their lives have to deal with masculinity and femininity. Even though many environmental factors influence construction of gender, nothing in biology labels behaviors as right or wrong, normal or abnormal. Though parents and teachers teach these lessons intentionally as well as unintentionally, young children also learn through television. As has been proven, a significant source of cultural gendered messages is television, perhaps most powerful for children who watch up to an average of four hours daily. With impressionable young minds, a wide variety of information can help shape these children's views on male and female roles in society.
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 behavior is present in preschool television programming and this was found through eight different themes and out of the eight themes five of them, leadership, appearance, gendered roles, occupations, and play roles, were significantly gendered. In both Barney and Teletubbies, males served as the leaders and the director of action. The three youngest Teletubbies without question robotically followed around the oldest who happens to be male like. The pattern being set is that males lead and females follow. On the other hand, Barney is also the male leader but he leads the children as a caring, social values, "feminized" male teacher. The reconfiguring of leadership as social and friendly leadership can be seen an alteration of a typical male teacher but the sex-stereotype of male being leaders is reinforced for the preschool aged children. Reconfiguring of the male characters was also prevalent for the four remaining themes that were gendered. The males in these shows were taller in stature, wore darker colored clothing but sometimes wore shorts and skirts. As for gendered roles the males were generally more active while the females were more social and passive. Neither program showed men and women in non-stereotypical occupational roles, indicating that at an early age children are exposed to gender -specific occupational expectations. In play roles when it was either time for story time or play time the females played the more passive roles such as setting up a picnic, while the males played the more active roles such as fox chasing. These findings help shed light on to the findings from a study carried out by Durkin and Nugent.
Durkin and Nugent examined four- and five-year-old children's predictions concerning the sex of the persons carrying out a variety of common activities and occupations on television. The children's responses revealed strong gender stereotyped expectations, and these were strongest in the case of masculine stereotyped activities. Also, they found that children's estimates of their own future competence also indicated stereotypical beliefs, with the females more likely to reject masculine activities. Young children will indeed see stereotypical sex-role models of the feminine and masculine in the media that is geared towards them, but they will also see social skills being affirmed for both sexes. We can conclude that mass media have the power to confirm both stereotypes and non-traditional gendered behavior-though more for boys than girls.
Environmental factors and parental influences
The first major exposure to gender roles typically comes from a child's parents. Children are often dressed in gender specific clothing and given gender specific toys from birth. Parents may encourage children to participate in sex-typed play, such as girls playing with dolls and boys playing with trucks. Parents may also model gender normative behavior, both unintentionally and intentionally. 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.
The parental affect and level of disciple children receive may be related to their gender. In 2001, Claire Hughes found parents of young girls were more likely to have more positive overall affect and stronger discipline. Hughes also found parental warmth to be associated with the development of theory of mind for girls, but not for boys. Hughes suggested this may have to do with a greater tendency for girls to use understanding of mind to seek emotional support, empathize, and cooperate.
Children between the ages of 3 to 6 may have difference in their levels of interest in infants and practicing nurturance behaviors. Judith Blakemore found that when children were given opportunities to interact with infants, boys were less likely to show interest in the younger child. In general, children without younger sibling were more likely to show interest, which may be related to the novelty of an infant. Of children with younger siblings, the gender difference was strong, and may be related to the child having learned gender roles by viewing the upbringing of their siblings. No group showed less interest in the infants than the male children with siblings. Children with egalitarian parents tended to show the least gender differences in interest in the infants.
Gender identity
It is typical for children to have a gender identity that "matches" their biological sex, however this is not always the case. Children can exhibit gender in a way that is incongruous with societal expectations of the gender assigned at birth, sometimes classified as gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria. While some children of preschool age with gender identity confusion or gender dysphoria insist that their gender identity is different from their assigned gender and their biological sex, others simply display gender nonconforming behavior, behavior typical of another gender, while maintaining their assigned gender. While many children's cross-gender self-identification weakens and eventually dissipates by middle childhood, some children continue in a state of gender dysphoria.
In diagnosing gender dysphoria, pediatricians and psychologists examine many different attributes of the children, including identity statements (whether children state that they want to be a member of a different gender or they want to grow up as a member of a different gender), cross dressing (such as a societally-identified boy wearing skirts and hair barrettes, or a societally-identified girl refusing to wear a dress and desiring short hair), toy and role play, anatomic dysphoria (in societally-identified boys, this typically manifests as a disgust of the penis, whereas in societally-identified girls this typically manifests as a desire for a penis), and rough-and-tumble play (societally-identified girls typically involve in rough play, whereas societally-identified boys shy away and even fear rough-and-tumble play).
An assessment of gender identity disorder diagnosis in young children by Bartlett, Vasey, and Bukowski (2000) concluded that Gender Identity Disorder in young children should not be considered a mental disorder, mainly because of the logistics of the criteria in the DSM IV. The four main criteria, each of which has sub-criteria, are (A) cross-gender identification, (B) discomfort with biological sex or societally prescribed gender role, (C) of a discriminate biological sex, and (D) in a state of distress or disturbance as a result of cross-gender identity and discomfort with biological sex or societally prescribed gender role. Bartlett, Vasey, and Bukowski argue that to meet the requirements a child does not necessarily need to have a cross-gender identification, and because of flaws such as that in the criteria requirements to be diagnosed, the state of gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder in children should not be considered a mental disorder.
For families of children displaying characteristics of gender identity disorder, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests talking with the children about why their behaviors may draw negative attention from peers and seeking further guidance from pediatrician. In addition, the child's cross-gender identification should be considered in light of the family situation.
Social impacts
The social impacts of imposing gender roles on children become evident very early in life and usually follow the child as they continue their development. It is most observable when they interact with other members of their age group. A child's peers serve as both an archetype and a sounding board for the proper way to express themselves. In her book Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social-role Interpretation, Alice Eagly affirms the idea that gender roles are a direct result of one's social interactions. She calls social behavior "gender-stereotypic" and says that most of the expectations of gender roles come from the stereotypes associated with them, such as a woman to be kind and compassionate and a man to be in control and independent. "This theory implicates conformity to gender-role expectations as a major source of the sexes' differing behavior." As a child explores those things in life that they may enjoy, the acceptance or criticism or their peers is crucial in whether or not they will continue to perform an activity.
Children are especially apt at noticing when one of their peers violates their established gender role. As Fagot (1990) found, children had a pronounced response when one of their peers violated their established gender role. Same-sex peers acted as the distributors of both rewards for proper gender role behavior and punishments for improper gender role behavior. Boys who preferred to play with dolls rather than trucks were five to six times more likely to be harassed by their peers than those who conformed to the norm. Girls who preferred to play firefighter rather than nurse were ignored rather than criticized. Most importantly, Fagot's study shows the effect of gender segregation on children; boys tended to respond more readily to feedback from other boys while girls likewise responded to feedback from other girls. By surrounding themselves with members of the same sex, children are placing themselves in a situation where they more readily accept and conform to accepted gender roles. A study by Bandura and Bussey shows that kids want to be like others of their sex. They begin labeling objects as "for girls" or "for boys" and conform to what is expected of them.
A study by Carol Martin (1990) shows that cross-sex behavior is generally discouraged in both sexes, though more so in males. Those that do exhibit cross-sex behavior are branded as either a sissy (a rather derogatory term used for boys exhibiting feminine characteristics) or a tomboy (a term for girls exhibiting male characteristics, though not as stigmatized as sissy). Gender roles place constraints upon what a child is allowed to do, based upon what their peers deem is acceptable.
As children grow older and are more able to grasp the concept of gender and gender roles, they begin to spend more time with children of the same sex, further exacerbating the proliferation of gender roles. Martin and Fabes observed that by the age of two, children were already beginning to show a preference for interacting with children of the same sex. By the time a child is three or four, the vast majority of their peer interactions are with members of the same sex. As Maccoby observed, by the age of four and a half, children spend three times as much time with same-sex play partners; by six and a half, that amount increases to eleven times. Martin and Fabes observed that as the children began to segregate themselves by gender, the activities they performed also aligned with their chosen play partners; boys tended to choose playmates who were more active and rowdy while girls chose playmates that were more calm and cooperative.
Children fall into these patterns with little guidance from either parents or teachers; they are instinctually drawn to members of the same sex and begin to adopt behavior that is considered gender appropriate. This phenomenon is known as self-socialization and drives the interaction between children throughout their young lives. This instinctive segregation encourages the gap between males and females and helps to reinforce gender roles as the child continues to grow.