Abstract
A test of gender discrimination in response to familiar labels was developed and given to 17- to 42-month-old children. A pretest employing pictures of familiar objects was presented first to ensure that subjects could perform a discrimination task, followed by separate gender tests comprised of photographs of stereotypically masculine and feminine children and adults. There were no sex differences in performance for the gender tests, but among the youngest children, more boys than girls could not be tested. Psychometric aspects of the tests were investigated and found adequate. The tests allow individual children to be classified as to gender-labeling ability and provide a useful tool for investigating gender knowledge.
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This research was funded in part by BRSG Grant S07RR07080 awarded by the Biomedical Support Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. This article is based on a dissertation submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree at the University of Oregon. A preliminary report of these findings was presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Detroit, 1983.
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Leinbach, M.D., Fagot, B.I. Acquisition of gender labels: A test for toddlers. Sex Roles 15, 655–666 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288221
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288221