Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA, 90840-0901, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2018 Nov;47(8):2277-2285. doi: 10.1007/s10508-018-1263-y. Epub 2018 Jul 9.
Children's gender-stereotypical dress and appearance might be one of the first representations of children's emerging sense of gender identity. Gender self-socialization theories posit that as children become more aware of gender categories, they become motivated to adhere to gender stereotypes, such as by expressing interest in dressing in feminine or masculine ways. Socialization theories predict that children's gender-typed appearance reflects parents' choices. For example, gender-traditional parents might dress their children in gender-stereotypical ways. At the same time, dressing in gender-stereotypical ways might contribute to children's growing awareness of gender categories. The current study investigated the factors associated with gender-typed appearance among 175 (87 girls, 88 boys) Mexican American, Dominican American, and African American 2-year-olds. We examined both child and parent contributions to early gender-typed appearance. To measure children's early conceptual understanding of gender categories, we assessed children's use and recognition of gender verbal labels. To examine the influence of parent socialization, we assessed mothers' gender-role attitudes. Children's gender-typed appearance was observed and coded during an assessment. Surprisingly, mothers' gender-role attitudes were not significantly associated with toddlers' gender-typed appearance. However, toddlers' gender labeling was associated with their gender-typed appearance, suggesting that self-socialization processes can be found as early as 24 months of age.
儿童的性别刻板着装和外表可能是儿童性别认同意识出现的最初表现之一。性别自我社会化理论认为，随着儿童对性别类别越来越了解，他们会有动力去遵守性别刻板印象，例如通过表现出对女性化或男性化着装的兴趣。社会化理论预测，儿童的性别类型化外表反映了父母的选择。例如，性别传统的父母可能会以性别刻板的方式给孩子穿衣。同时，穿着性别刻板的衣服可能会促使孩子越来越意识到性别类别。本研究调查了 175 名（87 名女孩，88 名男孩）墨西哥裔美国人、多米尼加裔美国人和非裔美国 2 岁儿童的性别类型化外表相关因素。我们既考察了儿童和父母对早期性别类型化外表的贡献。为了衡量儿童对性别类别的早期概念理解，我们评估了儿童对性别口头标签的使用和识别。为了考察父母社会化的影响，我们评估了母亲的性别角色态度。在评估过程中观察并记录了儿童的性别类型化外表。令人惊讶的是，母亲的性别角色态度与幼儿的性别类型化外表没有显著关联。然而，幼儿的性别标签与他们的性别类型化外表有关，这表明自我社会化过程早在 24 个月时就已经存在。
