Department of Psychology, 453 Moore Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2018 May;47(4):915-929. doi: 10.1007/s10508-017-1112-4. Epub 2018 Jan 9.
A key question in understanding gender development concerns the origins of sex segregation. Children's tendencies to interact with same-sex others have been hypothesized to result from gender identity and cognitions, behavioral compatibility, and personal characteristics. We examined whether prenatal androgen exposure was related to time spent with boys and girls, and how that gendered peer involvement was related to sex-typed activities and gender identity and cognitions. We studied 54 girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) aged 10-13 years varying in degree of prenatal androgen exposure: 40 girls with classical CAH (C-CAH) exposed to high prenatal androgens and 14 girls with non-classical CAH (NC-CAH) exposed to low, female-typical, prenatal androgens. Home interviews and questionnaires provided assessments of gendered activity interests and participation, gender identity, and gender cognitions. Daily phone calls over 7 days assessed time spent in gendered activities and with peers. Girls with both C-CAH and NC-CAH interacted more with girls than with boys, with no significant group differences. The groups did not differ significantly in gender identity or gender cognitions, but girls with C-CAH spent more time in male-typed activities and less time in female-typed activities than did girls with NC-CAH. Time spent with girls reflected direct effects of gender identity/cognitions and gender-typed activities, and an indirect effect of prenatal androgens (CAH type) through gender-typed activities. Our results extend findings that prenatal androgens differentially affect gendered characteristics and that gendered peer interactions reflect combined effects of behavioral compatibility and feelings and cognitions about gender. The study also shows the value of natural experiments for testing hypotheses about gender development.
理解性别发展的一个关键问题涉及到性别隔离的起源。儿童与同性他人互动的倾向被假设是由于性别认同和认知、行为兼容性和个人特征而产生的。我们研究了产前雄激素暴露是否与与男孩和女孩相处的时间有关，以及这种性别化的同伴参与如何与性别典型的活动以及性别认同和认知有关。我们研究了 54 名患有先天性肾上腺增生症（CAH）的 10-13 岁女孩，她们的产前雄激素暴露程度不同：40 名患有经典 CAH（C-CAH）的女孩暴露于高剂量的产前雄激素，14 名患有非经典 CAH（NC-CAH）的女孩暴露于低剂量的、女性典型的产前雄激素。家庭访谈和问卷调查提供了性别化活动兴趣和参与度、性别认同和性别认知的评估。在 7 天内每天通过电话评估与性别化活动和同伴相处的时间。患有 C-CAH 和 NC-CAH 的女孩与男孩相比更多地与女孩互动，两组之间没有显著差异。两组在性别认同或性别认知方面没有显著差异，但 C-CAH 组的女孩比 NC-CAH 组的女孩花费更多的时间进行男性化活动，而花费更少的时间进行女性化活动。与女孩相处的时间反映了性别认同/认知和性别典型活动的直接影响，以及通过性别典型活动对产前雄激素（CAH 类型）的间接影响。我们的研究结果扩展了发现，产前雄激素会以不同的方式影响性别化特征，而性别化的同伴互动反映了行为兼容性以及对性别的感受和认知的综合影响。该研究还表明，自然实验对于测试性别发展的假设具有价值。
