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Rigidity in Gender-Typed Behaviors in Early Childhood: a Longitudinal 3 4 Study of Ethnic Minority Children 5 6 May L

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Rigidity in Gender-Typed Behaviors in Early Childhood: a Longitudinal 3 4 Study of Ethnic Minority Children 5 6 May L Child Development, xxxx 2012, Volume 00, Number 0, Pages 1–16 1 2 Rigidity in Gender-Typed Behaviors in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal 3 4 Study of Ethnic Minority Children 5 6 May L. Halim Diane Ruble, Catherine Tamis-LeMonda, 7 California State University, Long Beach and Patrick E. Shrout 8 New York University 9 10 11 12 A key prediction of cognitive theories of gender development concerns developmental trajectories in the 13 relative strength or rigidity of gender typing. To examine these trajectories in early childhood, 229 children CE: Deepa R 14 (African American, Mexican, and Dominican) were followed annually from age 3 to 5 years and gender- 15 stereotypical appearance, dress-up play, toy play, and sex segregation were examined. High gender-typing 16 was found across ethnic group, and most behaviors increased in rigidity, especially from age 3 to 4 years. In addressing controversy surrounding the stability and structure of gender-typing it was found that from year 17 to year, most behaviors showed moderately stable individual differences. Behaviors were uncorrelated within 18 age, but showed more concordance in change across time, suggesting that aspects of gender-typing are multi- 19 dimensional, but still show coherence. 20 21 22 Dispatch: 14.12.12Author Received: Journal: No. of pages: 16 PE: Karpagavalli 23 A glance around a playground, a classroom, or a children espouse gender early on could set in 24 toy store will instantly reveal that early childhood motion life-long individual differences in displays B 25 is an important period in gender development for of masculinity or femininity (Martin & Ruble, 2009). 26 American children. Gender is displayed in highly Although the existence of obvious differences in 27 visible, explicit ways. Flocks of girls, especially at gender-typed behaviors among young American 28 ages 3 and 4 years, go about their days swathed in boys and girls is clear, fundamental questions 29 pink, glitter, hearts, and ribbons (Halim et al., 2012; remain unanswered. First, we know little of 30 Ruble, Lurye, & Zosuls, 2007). Boys, too, exhibit whether different aspects of gender-typing emerge 31 their own kind of “gender rigidity” (defined in this at the same time and connect to each other, or 32 article as a strong adherence to gender-stereotypical instead, exhibit specificity in expression. Second, 12057 33 behaviors; Parsons & Howe, 2006). Often, one can questions remain about whether gender-typed 34 see boys kicking the air, flexing their muscles, and behaviors show a predictable pattern of normative 35 running around imagining themselves as Spider- developmental change and stable individual differ- 36 man. This period when children display their gen- ences over time or are a function of unpredictable 37 der so openly and ostentatiously provides a situational variation. Third, it remains to be seen 38 fascinating window into the early stages of gender whether the above portrait of gender-typing can be Journal Name Manuscript No. 39 development in the life span. The degree to which found across different ethnic groups, or whether the CDEV 40 focus on White, middle-class samples has led to 41 This work was conducted at New York University’s Center for distorted conclusions. Despite the explicit gender- 42 Research on Culture, Development, and Education (CRCDE), typing seen in young children, there has been little 43 within the Department of Applied Psychology at New York Uni- empirical investigation of it—over time, across 44 versity’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. This research was supported by the National different behaviors, and across different populations. 45 Science Foundation grants BCS 021859 and IRADS 0721383 to C. Some may explain these behaviors as just a Disney- 46 S. Tamis-LeMonda. Preparation of this paper was also supported provoked middle-class display. However, we argue 47 in part by a National Institute of Child Health and Human fl Development Research Grant (R01 HD04994 and ARRA Supple- that these behaviors re ect a manifestation of a 48 ment) to D. N. Ruble. We thank our colleagues and staff at the fundamental developmental phenomenon that marks 49 CRCDE, particularly Cristina Hunter, Eva Liang, Yana Kuchirko, the early phases of a life course of a gender divide. 50 Julia Raufman, Emerald Shee, Irene Sze, and Irene Wu, as well as the mothers and children who participated in our research. 51 We also thank David Amodio and Kay Deaux for their feedback 52 on earlier versions of this article. © 2012 The Authors 53 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. May L. Halim, California State University, Long Beach, LA. Elec- All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2012/xxxx-xxxx 54 tronic mail may be sent to [email protected]. 1 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12057 2 Halim, Ruble, Tamis-LeMonda, and Shrout 1 Thus, investigating these questions is critical in explicitly developmental perspective, emphasizing 2 adding to existing literature on gender develop- not just high levels, but change over time, upon 3 ment. which we base this study. 4 These questions are unanswered because the In this study we employed a longitudinal design 5 literature to date is primarily composed of cross- to investigate developmental growth within the 6 sectional studies of middle-class White children. same individuals. We asked whether gender-typed 7 Exciting new insights can be obtained by broaden- behaviors increase in rigidity during ages 3 to 8 ing the study of gender development to include 5 years, as this period is a time of increasing gender 9 samples of ethnically diverse children in a longitu- knowledge, rather than just whether rigidity is 10 dinal design. Insofar as children raised in the high. We also explored whether this rigidity begins 11 United States experience the same global culture to level off during these ages; that is, do some gen- 12 during the developmentally important preschool der-typed behaviors show the curvilinear pattern 13 years, and insofar as increasing rigidity in gender- predicted by cognitive theories of gender develop- 14 typed behaviors reflect a fundamental, generaliz- ment? 15 able developmental theory, they should show the This question is important, because most studies 16 same patterns of gender development. This study on the developmental trajectory of gender-typing 17 aims to address these questions by examining the focus primarily on gender-related beliefs and cogni- 18 change and stability (consistency of a behavior tions. Several studies have shown that children’s 19 across time) of different facets of gender-typing in gender stereotyping increases in rigidity from age 20 an ethnically diverse sample of 3- to 5-year-old 3 to 5 years, which is then generally followed by 21 children. flexibility (Signorella, Bigler, & Liben, 1993; Traut- 22 ner et al., 2005). Other research has found similar 23 increases in rigidity from age 3 to 4 years in Trajectories of Gender Development in Early Childhood 24 attitudes about children who violate gender norms 25 According to cognitive theories of gender devel- (Ruble et al., 2007). But how do manifestations of 26 opment, as children learn about gender categories, rigidity in gender-related behavior develop across 27 they are predicted to be highly motivated to strictly early childhood? Do different types of gendered 28 adhere to gender stereotypes, and this adherence behaviors show a similar course of increasing rigid- 29 may increase in rigidity as information about gen- ity as seen in gender-related cognitions? Past 30 der categories is constructed and consolidated research examining developmental trajectories in 31 (Martin, Ruble, & Szkrybalo, 2002; Ruble, 1994). gender-typed behavior and preferences has largely 32 These theories view children as active “gender been limited to either peer or toy preferences. This 33 detectives” (Martin & Ruble, 2004), who earnestly research, largely cross-sectional with a few longitu- 34 seek out information about gender, then attempt dinal studies, has found that children increasingly 35 to draw inferences and clear conclusions about prefer to play with same-sex children from pre- 36 gender, and finally apply such conclusions rigidly school through the elementary school years (e.g., 37 to themselves. Subsequently, cognitive theories of Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Martin, Fabes, Evans, & 2 38 gender development predict that children will inte- Wyman, 1999; Serbin, Powlishta, & Gulko, 1993) 39 grate their new gender identity with other identities and display increased rigidity in gender-typed toy 40 and become more flexible in the application of the preferences (e.g., Servin, Bohlin, & Berlin, 1999). 41 conclusions they drew about gender. These theories In summary, there is little research on the trajec- 42 are, of course, not the only perspectives on gender tory of multiple aspects of gender-typed behavior 43 development. Socialization approaches posit that during the preschool years, as well as little attempt 44 experiences at home, school, and one’s neighbor- to pull together the different facets of gender-typing 45 hood influence children’s gender-typing through in a single study. This study addresses this gap in 46 processes such as social learning and encourage- the literature by looking at four different behaviors 47 ment from others to behave in gender-typed ways. within one study over time. We were interested in 48 Biological approaches emphasize the role of genes, how children adorn themselves as it is relatively an 49 hormones, and the brain in physical and psycholog- unexplored element of gender development and 50 ical sexual differentiation (Ruble, Martin, & seems both prevalent among children and 51 Berenbaum, 2006). These perspectives on gender important to them. Thus, we observed children’s 52 development would predict a high level of gender- gender-typed appearances and their involvement in 53 typed behaviors in early childhood.
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