Children's schemata of man and woman: a comparison with the schemata of heterosexual and homosexual populations.

The present study was designed to examine the man-woman schemata employed by children and compare them with those used by different sexually mature populations. A central hypothesis of the investigation was that the frequency with which children use various male-female schemata more closely resembles the frequency with which homosexuals use these schemata than either group resembles the pattern pervasive in mature heterosexual populations. The Ss were 70 white boys and 70 white girls in the fourth grade of large urban public schools. The task was the free placement of figures cut from felt on a flannel board. One group of figures contained a man, a woman, and two rectangles, while the other group consisted of two man figures and two woman figures. The schemata employed by the children in their figure arrangements were significantly different from those of adult heterosexuals and resembled those of adult homosexuals. The discussion includes the consideration of a "bracketing schema" that is employed far more often by adult heterosexuals than it is by children or homosexuals.