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Self-Perceived Gender Typicality, Gender-Typed Attributes, and Gender Stereotype Endorsement in Elementary-School-Aged Children

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Abstract

This study examined relations among self-perceived gender typicality, gender-typed attributes, and gender stereotype endorsement with a sample of elementary-school-aged children (N = 100, ages 6–12) from the Midwestern United States. Children who perceived themselves as more gender-typical were more interested in same-gender-typed activities and occupations and less interested in other-gender-typed activities and occupations than children who perceived themselves as less gender-typical. Gender typicality was linked to gender stereotype endorsement, as predicted based on Liben and Bigler’s (2002) dual-pathway model of gender development, with children who perceived themselves as less gender-typical having more egalitarian (less stereotyped) attitudes than children who perceived themselves as more gender-typical. The observed relations between gender-typed attributes and self-perceived gender typicality and between self-perceived gender typicality and gender stereotype endorsement did not differ across gender or age. These findings indicate that even young elementary-school-aged children use their knowledge of cultural gender roles to make subjective judgments regarding the self, and, conversely, that views of the self may influence personal endorsement of cultural gender stereotypes. Although the majority of extant research has focused on negative outcomes associated with low self-perceived gender typicality (e.g., low self-esteem), this research indicates that positive outcomes (e.g., flexible gender role attitudes) may also be associated with low self-perceived gender typicality.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Sharla Cruse, Kelly English, Ban Hong Lim, and Rhea Owens for their assistance with data collection and Julie Milligan Hughes and Erin Pahlke for their feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Preliminary results were presented at the biennial Gender Development Research Conference, San Francisco, CA, in April 2008. Final results were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, in April 2009.

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  1. Department of Psychology & Research in Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Meagan M. Patterson

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  1. Meagan M. Patterson
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Correspondence to Meagan M. Patterson.

Appendix: Gender typicality measure

Appendix: Gender typicality measure

Note. Items given are from the girls’ version of the measure. The boys’ version is identical except that the word girl is replaced with boy and the word boy is replaced with girl in all items. Response options are the same for all items. The gender typicality scale is part of a larger measure of gender identity that also includes measures of gender satisfaction, satisfaction with gender roles, and perceived pressure to conform to gender roles. The full measure can be obtained from the author.

Instructions: Some things are more typical of the groups they belong to than other things—they are better examples of the group. For example, a robin or a pigeon is a more typical bird than a penguin or an ostrich. People also have ideas about what girls and boys are like and who is a typical girl or boy. We want to know how you feel about yourself, and how much you are like most girls or most boys.

  1. 1.

    I like to do the same kinds of things as most girls.

    Really true

    Sort of true

    Sort of not true

    Really not true

    4

    3

    2

    1

  2. 2.

    I look like most girls.

  3. 3.

    I like to dress the same way as most girls.

  4. 4.

    Sometimes people say that I am acting more like a boy than a girl. (R)

  5. 5.

    I would rather do activities that girls usually like than activities that boys usually like.

  6. 6.

    I talk the same way as most girls.

  7. 7.

    Some things I like to do are things that boys usually like more than girls. (R)

  8. 8.

    I like the same school subjects as most girls.

  9. 9.

    I am good at the same things as most girls.

  10. 10.

    I would rather do activities that boys usually like than activities that girls usually like. (R)

Note. (R) reverse-scored item.

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Patterson, M.M. Self-Perceived Gender Typicality, Gender-Typed Attributes, and Gender Stereotype Endorsement in Elementary-School-Aged Children. Sex Roles 67, 422–434 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0184-9

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