Sex and Gender

• sex is the distinction between genetic females (XX) and genetic males (XY), as well as other genetic sex compositions (ex. XO, XXY, XYY)

• gender is the social assignment or self-categorization as “a girl” or “a boy” or both, neither, or a different category

• cisgender refers to individuals who identify with their gender assigned at birth (or biological sex)

• transgender refers to individuals who do not identify with the gender assigned at birth

• nonbinary are individuals who do not identify exclusively as one gender; also referred to as genderqueer

• genderfluid refers to individuals who self-identify with different gender categories depending on the context

• bigender refers to individuals who identify with two genders

• agender refers to those who do not identify with any gender category

• although researchers are increasingly studying gender development in transgender and non-cisgender children, there is relatively little research on these youth

• gender typing refers to the process of gender socialization

• gender-typed refers to behaviours stereotyped or expected for a given person’s assigned gender

• cross-gender-typed refers to behaviours stereotyped or expected for the gender other than that of a given person

• gender nonconforming refers to individuals who are highly cross-gender-typed in relation to their assigned gender

Comparisons of Girls and Boys

• only a few cognitive abilities, personality traits, and social behaviours show consistent gender difference but most tend to be fairly small

• the effect size is the magnitude of difference between two group’s averages and the amount of overlap in their distributions

• there are four levels of effect sizes: negligible, small, medium, and large

  • negligible → if the two distributions overlap more than 85%

  • small → 67% and 85%

  • medium → 53% - 66%

  • large → less than 53%

• some researchers refer to very large differences when the overlap is less than 30%

• a statistically significant difference is p < .05, and statistically significant gender differences can have a trivial effect size

• contradictory findings can occur because studies vary in the characteristics of their samples, methods used, and the situation being studied

• to infer overall patterns, scientists use meta-analysis which is a statistical method used to summarize average effect size and statistical significance across studies

• statistically significant gender differences in cognitive ability and social behaviours are often in the small range of effect sizes

• the gender similarities hypothesis is that it is important to appreciate that similarities far outweigh differences on most attributes

Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development

Biological Influences

• all behaviour and thinking are biologically based because they depend on the functioning of the brain and organs and all experiences lead to changes in the brain’s organization

Neuroscience Approaches

Genes

• biological sex is determined by whether a person has XX or XY chromosome pairs

• some argue females and males have genetic dispositions toward different behaviours (ex. men being aggressive and women being nurturing) because they aided reproduction during evolution

• there are no known studies documenting direct links between genes and gender-typed behaviour in humans

Hormones and brain functioning

• much attention is paid to the possible effects of androgens which are a class of steroid hormones that occur at a slightly higher level in males than females. They also affect physical development and functioning from the prenatal period onward

• androgens and other hormones can also have organizing or activating influences on the nervous system

  • organizing influences are the potential result of certain sex-linked hormones that affect brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development or at puberty

  • activating influences are the potential result of certain fluctuations in sex-linked hormone levels, affecting the simultaneous activation of the nervous system and corresponding behavioural responses

Brain structure and functioning

• an important limitation of research documenting sex differences in brain structure is that it is mostly based on brain-imaging studies performed on adult

• it is unclear to what extent any average sex differences in adult brain structure are due to genetic of environment influences

• it is also unclear to what extent small average differences in brain struturde determine differences in ability and behaviour

Cognitive and Motivational Influences

• self-socialization is the active process where children’s cognitions lead them to perceive the world and act in accord with expectations and beliefs

  • ex. self-socialization occurs in gender development when figuring out gender identity

• cognitive theories also emphasize the role of the environment

Cognitive Developmental Theory

• Lawrence Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory of gender-role development reflects a Piagetian framework

• Kohlberg proposed children actively construct knowledge about gender in the same ways Piaget theorized they do about the physical world

• there are 2 distinctive contributions

  1. children actively seek to understand the meaning of gender through observing and interacting with the world around them

  2. there are cognitive developmental chanes in children’s understanding of gender during early childhood

• Kohlberg said that children’s understanding of gender involves a 3-stage process that occurs between 2-6 years of age

  1. gender identity - the self-identifying as a boy, girl, both, or neither

     • this happens around 30 months of age

  2. gender stability - the awareness that gender remains the same over time

     • this beings around 3-4 years of age

  3. gender constancy - the realization gender is invariant despite superficial chanes in a person’s apperance or behaviour

• reserach has supported the idea that children’s understanding of gender develops in the sequence Kohlberg hypothesized and that the attainment of gender constancy occurs at more or less the same age as when children are successful on conservation problems

• some studies indicate that once children consolidate their understanding of gender, they tend to use gender concepts to interpret the world

• Kohlberg did not consider the possibility of trans or nonbinary gender identities

• recent research found that gender identities of trans children were equally as strong as those of cis children

  • this refutes the belief that trans children are “confused”

Gender Schema Theory

• Gender schema theory is an alternative to Kohlberg’s explanation of children’s gender development

• it holds that the motivation to enact gender-typed behaviour begins as soon as children can label their own and other’s gender (which is usually at about 3 years of age, which is younger than when gender constancy is attained)

• according to this theory, children’s understanding of gender develops through the construction of gender schemas which are mental representations that incorporate everything the child knows about gender

  • this includes memories of one’s own experiences with males & females, and gender stereotypes transmitted by peers and messages conveyed through media

  • children use an ingroup/outgroup gender schema to classify others as “the same as me” or not

• the motivation for cognitive consistency leads them to prefer more about others of their own gender

  • because of this, an own-gender schema is formed which consists of detailed knowledge about how to do things that are consistent with their own gender’s stereotypes

• gender schemas are also responsible for biased processing and remembering information about gender

  • ex. when shown a series of pictures that included a combination of gender-typed images and cross-gender-typed images, children had a tendency to retain schema-consistent information and ignore or distort schema-inconsistent information that perpetuates gender stereotypes that have little to no basis in reality

• Liben and Bigler proposed children use two kinds of filters when processing information about the world

1. gender schema filter - the initial evaluation of information as relevant for one’s own gender

2. interest filter - initial evaluation of information as being personally interesting

• children sometimes use their interest filter to modify their gender schemas: “if I like this toy, it must be something that is okay for my gender”.

• Liben and Bigler’s modification to gender schema theory helps to account for findings indicating that children are often inconsistent in their gender-typed interests (ex. some are more traditional in some areas than others, and some pursue cross-gender-typed activities purely based on their interest filter)

• research finds that some children have intense interests in particular things in early childhood, and for some these interests are gender-typed, and in these cases, their interests are compatible with gender-stereotyped expecations

  • some other children have intense interests in cross-gender-typed toys and activities, in which case the interest filter may override the gender schema filter

  • if the discrepancy between gender-role pressures and strong personal interests is too great, some of these children may come to identify with a more compatible gender category

  • although gender schemas are resistant to change, they can be modifed through explicit instruction and encouragement

    • children who were taught with this model showed decreased gender stereotyping and had better memory for gender-inconsistent stimuli

    • once this intervention ends though, children gradually revert back to their old gender stereotypes, showing that cognitive interventions need to be sustained to have a longer-lasting effect

Social Cognitive Theory

• Kay Bussey and Albert Bandura proposed a theory of gender development based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory

  • this theory depicts a triadic model of reciprocal causation among personal factors, environmental factors, and behaviour patterns

    • personal factors: cognitive, motivational + biological processes

• this theory primarily addresses cognition and motivation

• in this theory, learning occurs through tuition, enactive experience, and observation

  • tuition refers to learning through direct teaching

  • enactive experience refers to learning to take into account the reactions one’s past behaviour has evoked in others

  • observational learning refers to learning through watching other people and the consequences they experience due to their actions

    • involves 4 key processes: attention, memory, production, motivation

    • attention + memory: to learn new info, it must be attended to and stored in memory

    • production: practicing the behaviour that has been observed

    • motivation: motivation depends on incentives or disincentives they experience relative to behaviour

      • over time, external sanctions are usually internalized as personal standards and become self-sanctions that motivate and regulate behaviour

  • gender development becomes a process of self-regulations where children monitor their behaviour and evaluate how well it matches personal standards, and after making this evaluation, children may feel pride or shame depending on whether they meet their standards

    • self-efficacy is when individuals gain the sense of personal agency when they experience positive self-reactions for their behaviour. it can develop gradually through practice, social moedling, and social persuasion

    • there is a strong relation between feelings of self-efficacy and motivation

Social Identity Theory

• the social identity theory addresses the influence of group membership on people’s self-concepts and behaviour with others

• two influential processes that occur when a person commits to an ingroup are ingroup bias and ingroup assimilation

  • ingroup bias → tendency to evaluate individuals and characteristics of the ingroup more positively than or as superior to those of the outgroup

    • children anticipate ingroup approval for preferring same-gender peers and same-gender-typed activities & avoiding other-gender-peers and cross-gender-typed activities

  • ingroup assimilation → the process where individuals are socialized to conform to the group’s norms, demonstrating the characteristcs that define the ingroup

    • children become more gender-typed in preferences as they assimiliate

• the characteristics associated with a high-status group are typically valued more than those of a low-status group

  • in male-dominated societies, masculine-stereotyped attributes like assertiveness and competition tend to be valued more highly than feminine-stereotyped attributes like nurturance and affiliation

• social identity theory helps explain why gender-typing pressures tend to be more rigid for boys than girls as members of high-status groups are usually more invested in maintaining group boundaries than members of low-status groups

  • this explains why boys are also more likely to endorse gender stereotypes and hold sexist attitudes

• intersectionality is the interconnection of social identities like gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class, especially in relation to overlapping experiences of discrimination and disadvantage

  • ex. the expectations for a girl in a suburban upper-middle-class family may differ from the expectations in a poor or working-class family in an inner city in terms of housework, childcare responsibilities, physical and emotional toughness, and such

  • when youth experience harrassment and discrimination based on multiple group identities, it generally compounds the negative effects on their adjustment

Integrative Theoretical Approaches

• two recent efforts in the developmental psychology of gender illustrate theoretical synthesis: developmental intergroup theory and the gender self-socialization model

• the developmental intergroup theory (DIT) integrates ideas from cognitive-developmental theory, gender schema theory, and social identity theory

  • it highlights three key processes that contribute to the development of stereotyping and prejudice based on a person’s gender

    • 1. establishing the psychological salience of gender

    • 2. categorizing individuals based on their gender

    • 3. developing stereotypes and prejudices based on this categorization

  • Rebecca Bigler and Lynn Liben reviewed ways in which the psychological salience of gender is commonly established in people’s everyday lives

    • ex. gender-differentiated colours, hair, clothing styles, gendered nouns and pronouns, gender-designated bathrooms, gender-segregated sports, single-gender schools

  • To mitigate the psychological salience of gender, some argue for changes encouraging gender-neutrality in terms of clothing, language, activites, and so on

  • Once the psychological salience of gender is established, the stage is set for stereotyping and prejudice

    • this includes ingroup bias and essentialism, which is the tendency to believe that members of a category share important qualities that make them distinct from other categories (ex. children may view girls and boys as having inherently different traits and abilities)

• another integrative theoretical model is gender self-socialization model (GSSM), which was introduced by David Perry

  • it bridges gender schema theory, social cognitive theory, social identity, and other theoretical approaches

  • it emphasizes how much of gender development is a process of self-socialization

  • it builds on balanced identity theory from social psychology, which is based on the premise that individuals seek to attain cognitive consistency across their group identities (“I am a girl”), personal-social attributes (“I like dolls”) and group-attribute beliefs (“Girls like dolls”)

  • Perry proposed 3 hypothesized ways this balance tends to occur during gender development

    1. stereotype emulation hypothesis

       • the more children identify with their gender ingroup, the more motivated they will be to adhere to the stereotypes for their gender ingroup

       • ex. if belonging to his same-gender peer group is iportant for a boy, he might be especially prone to act like his peers and do things expected among his peers

    2. stereotype construction hypothesis

       • specifies that children are apt to form generalized beliefs or stereotypes about their gender ingroup based on their own personal-social attributes

       • ex. a girl who likes dress-up play may assume playing dress-up is something other girls like

    3. identity constructional hypothesis

       • states that children are more likely to identify with their gender ingroup when their own person-social attributes match their stereotyped beliefs about their gender ingroup

       • ex. a boy may form a stronger gender identity if he likes playing sports and also stereotypes sports as something for boys

       • this may strengthen felt gender typicality, which is a fact of gender identity, and it is a sense of belonging to one’s gender ingroup

  • this model may help us understand why some children do not identify with their assigned gender at birth, as in the cases noted earlier of children who have strong cross-gender-typed interests at an early age

    • when rejected for their gender-nonconforming interest, perhaps some find they do not belong in the gender they were assigned

  • The GSSM implies that reducing cultural gender stereotypes about personal-social attributes will mean children will not need to associate particular activities with a particular gender

• Both DIT and GSSM are excellent illustrations fo how different theories can be combined to provide a fuller picture of the processes underlying children’s gender development

Cultural Influences

Bioecological Model

• Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development differentiates among interconnected systems within the child and in the child’s environment. The enviromental systems range from the microsystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

• A fundamental feature of the macrosystem is its opportunity structure which is the economic and social resources offered by the macrosystem in the bioecological model, and people’s understand of those resources

• child socialization practices in the family, peer group, and other facets of the child’s microsystem serve to prepare children for these adult roles

• play activities provide young children with opportunities to practice particular social behaviours and cognitive abilities

  • ex. domestic pretend play provides children with contexts for practicing socioemotional skills, and playing with construction toys can help develop children’s spatial skills

  • when particular play activities are differentially encouraged in one gender more than another, there are corresponding differences in opportunity, which can lead to later differences in preferences, attitudes and skills that influence the occupations they pursue and their functioning in close relationships

• different behaviours are expected of women and men in family and occupational roles

  • women have been traditionally underrepresented in politics, business, science, technology and various other fields

• children’s development is largely an adaption to their existing opportunities, and changes in children’s macro and micro systems can lead to greater gender equality

  • ex. increased academic opportunities for girls in the United States have led to a dramatic narrowing of the gender gap in math and science within the past few decades

• the bioecological model highlights how institutionalized roles impose both opportunities and constraints on people’s behaviour and beliefs in the home, schools, the labour force, and political institutions

Milestones in Gender Development

Infancy and Toddlerhood

• during their first year, infants can figure out that there are 2 groups of people in the world: females and males due to clothing, hairstyle, height, body shape, motion patterns, vocal pitch, and activities which all provide infants with gender cues

• at about 6-9 months of age, infants can distinguish males from females, usually on the basis of hairstyle

• most children begin exhibiting distinct patterns of gender development shortly after entering toddlerhood

• by the second half of their second year, children begin to form gender-related expectations about the objects and activities typically associated with males and females

• at about 2.5 years of age, children begin to label other people’s genders and show understanding of their own gender identity a few months later

• by 2.5 to 3 years of age, most children use gender terms to refer to themselves and other children

• gender self-labeling is usually consist with children’s gender assignment at birth, but some do not identify with their assigned gender as they grow older, and they might identify as transgender, genderfluid, or agender

  • these children usually have behavioural preferences that would be cross-gender-typed for their assigned gender at birth

Preschool Years

• during ages 3-5, children quickly learn gender stereotypes

• by about 3 years, most begin to attribute certain toys and play activities to each gender

• by about 5 yeras, the yusually stereotype affiliative characteristics to females and assertive characteristics to males

• in this period, children usually lack gender constancy: the concept that gender remains stable across time and is consistent across situations

  • ex. thinking a girl becomes a boy if she cuts her hair

• most young children rigidly endorse gender stereotypes until they develop more cognitive flexibility

Gender-Typed Behaviour

• many children begin to demonstrate preferences for some gender-typed toys at about 2 years of age, and these preferences become stronger during preschool years

• variation exists within each gender in how strongly individual children favour gender-typed over cross-gender-typed play (some are more rigid than others)

• the preschool period is also when gender segregation - children’s tendency to associate with same-gender peers and avoid other-gender peers - happens

  • it increases steadily between about 3-6 years of age, and remains stable throughout childhood

  • preference for same-gender peers is commonly seen across different cultures

• Gender-segregated peer groups let cis children learn what it means to be a girl or a boy

  • peers are role models and enforcers of gender-typed behaviour

• the reasons for children’s same-gender peer preferences involves a combination of temperamental, cognitive, and social forces, and relative influences change over time

  • at first, some may prefer same-gender peers because they have more compatible behavioural styles and interests

• as children become older, peer pressures may also motivate them to prefer same-gender peers

  • ingroup identity and conformity pressures may override behavioural compatability as reasons for gender segregation

• assimilating into same-gender peer groups may be a challenge for few if they have intense cross-gender-typed interests

  • these children may face a conflict between social pressures and interests

  • this conflict puts children at risk for depression, anxiety, and other adjustment difficulties

  • not feeling like they belong with their gender ingroup can also contribute to some adopting a different gender identity

Middle Childhood

• by about 6 years, cis children usually attain gender constancy, and most continue to be highly gender-stereotyped in their views

• however they often show a bit more flexibility in gender stereotypes and attitudes than before

• at about 9-10 years of age, children start to show an even clearer understanding that gender is a social category as opposed to a biological imperative

• even though children may understand the notion of individual variations in gender typing, they are typically aware that violating gender role norms would have social costs

• another development in these years is an awareness of when gender discrimination occurs as well as the realization that it is unfair

• there are various factors that affect whether children recognize gender discrimination

  • first being an understanding of cultural stereotypes, the ability to make social comparisons, and a moral understanding of fairness and equality

• the situation can affect children’s likelihood of noticing discriminaton as well, and they are more apt to recognize gender discrimination from someone aleady known to be prejudiced

Gender-Typed Behaviour

• most cis girls and boys spend time in same-gender peer groups throughout childhood & their peer groups establish somewhat different norms for behaviour

  • it has been suggested that girls and boys make their own culture as children

• the gender-role norms seen in social interactions tend to reflect differences in the balance of assertion - the tendency to take action on behalf of the self through competitive, independent, or aggressive behaviours - and affiliation - the tendency to affirm connection with others through being emotionally open, empathetic, or supportive

• assertion and affiliation are often blended together in a style known as collaboration

  • ex. “let’s play a game together” is both assertive and affiliative

  • girls were more likely to use collaborate communication that affirms both the self and the other while boys were more likely to use power-assertive communication that primarily affirms the self

• average gender differences in the peer cultures reflect the organization of gender in larger society with males emphasizing dominance, self-reliance, competition, and hiding vulnerabilty, and females reinforcing norms that value interpersonal sensitivity, supportiveness, and affection

• children do violate gender-role norms (assertive girls, collaborative boys), and when this is often reacted to negatively by peers through teasing

• although most cis children typically favour same-gender peers, friendly mixed-gender contacts regularly occur

  • ex. not having many options at home adn in the neighbourhood, so boys and girls play cooperatively

  • however, if there is no external cause for socializing with the opposite gender, the risk of peer rejection is high

• gender typing tends to be more rigid among boys than girls during childhood

• girls are also more flexible in coordinating interpersonal goals, and they

• use both affiliative and assertive goals in social interactions

Adolescence

• in this period, gender roles might become more rigid or more relaxed depending on individual and contextual factors

• it is a time when many are exploring personal identities and many internalize traditional gender roles in personal values

  • this can result in heightened concerns with adhering to traditional gender roles, and is referred to as gender-role intensification

    • this often occurs in heterosexual dating (ex. expecting the boy to initiate and pay for dates)

• traditional heterosexual dating scripts stem from ambivalent sexism, which is a model of sexism that has two components: hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism

  • hostile sexism is whereby men are dominant and women who seek equality are disparaged

  • benevolent sexism is whereby men are supposed to protect women in straight relationships

    • benevolent sexism helps perpetuate gender differences in status and power

• both hostile and benevolent sexism tend to occur together, so rates of sexual harrassment rise during the same period heterosexual dating is also increasing

• thse patterns may also set the stage for lowered relationship satisfaction between women and men in heterosexual relationships over time

• gender-role intensification is related to increases in gender discrimination during the course of adolescence

  • ex. increase in sexual harrassment

• instances of sexual harassment and bullying are more likely directed toward gender-nonconforming children as well as LGBTQ individuals

• some adolescents may reject traditional gender roles as social convenions, which can lead to gender-role flexibility where they have more flexible attitudes and interests

  • greater gender-role flexibility is more likely among girls tahn among boys

• When LGBTQ adolescents encounter strong heteronormative expections in community, they may face stigmatization and corresponding challenges in embracing sexual identities

Gender-Typed Behaviour

• in many cultural communities, mixed-gender interactions become more common during adolescence

  • this can open the way to romantic relationships among heterosexual youth

• in some cultural settings, though, there are strict rules regarding mixed-gender contacts

  • ex. Orthodox Jewish, Islamic, and Amish societies (mixed-gender contact must be supervised by family)

• adolescence also is a time for increased intimacy in same-gender friendships

  • there is increased emotional closeness through sharing personal feelings and thoughts but there is more variability among how boys express and experience these in friendships

  • many boys who avoid expressing feelings with male friends may do so with female friends or girlfriends

• co-rumination is when friends dwell too long on upsetting events by talking about them over and over, and this process is more common in girls and boys

  • it is an unhealthy way to cope with distress

Patterns of Gender Development

Physical Growth: Prenatal Development Through Adolescence

Prenatal Development

• a key prenatal factor in sexual development is the presence or absence of androgens

• the exposure to androgens may influence the organization of the nervous system, and these effects may be partly related to some gender differences in behaviour down the line

• during prenatal development, a gene on the Y chromosome of males normally triggers increased production of androgen hormones around 6-8 weeks after conception, and this leads to a series of processes that lead to the formation of male internal reproductive structures and external genitalia

• rarely occuring recessive genes may result in a person of one sex to develop sexual structures associated with other genetic sex or only partial development of sexual structures associated with their genetic sex (intersex conditions)

  • there are 2 intersex conditions: congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and androgen insensitivity syndrome

• congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a condition where adrenal glands produce high levels of androgens. It is sometimes associated with masculinization of external genitalia in genetic females (clitoris that may resemble a penis) and higher rates of masculine-stereotyped play in genetic females

• researchers found that girls with CAH were more likely than those without CAH To choose physically active forms of play, but CAH does not have a strong impact on gender identity, and these behavioural tendencies do not appear to be caused by parent’s treatment of them due to masculinized genitalia

• Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition during prenatal development where androgen receptors malfunction in genetic males, which impedes the formation of male external genitalia and the child may be born with female external genitalia

  • boys with AIS commonly self-identify as girls, and show preferences for stereotypically feminine interests

• cases of children with CAH and AIS offer evidence to support the premise that prenatal androgens may partly contribute to gender identities and gender-typed play preferences

  • however, there are normal variatons within each sex in exposure to prenatal androgens, as well as in their later preferences for different kinds of activities and interests

Childhood and Adolescence

• during infancy and into childhood, girls and boys grow at roughly the same rate and are essentially equal in height and weight

• during childhood, boys become stronger compared to girls (in terms of muscles)

• during adolescnece, a series of dramatic bodily transformations is associated with puberty which is the developmental period marked by the ability to reproduce and other dramatic bodily changes

  • females → enlargement of breasts, general growth spurt in height and weight, apperance of pubic hair, menarche (onset of menstruation due to increase in body fat that occurs during adolescence)

  • males → growth of testes, appearance of pubic hair, general growth spurt, growth of the penis, spermarche (onset of capacity for ejaculation)

• for both females and males, there is considerable variability in physical maturation due to genetic and environmental factors

  • genes → influence production of hormones, especially growth hormone and thyroxin

  • environment → influence of environment seen in physical development over generations, with females menstruating several years earlier than ancestors from 200 years ago, and this change is thought to reflect improvement in nutrition over generations

• with the changes in body composition, the gender gap in physical and motor skills greatly increases

• after puberty, average gender differences are very large in strength, speed, and size

  • ex. few adolescent females can run as fast or throw a ball as far as most males can

• physical differences in strength, speed, and size, as well as women’s childbearing capacity, may be among the most significant sex differences that shape the organization of gender relations in a society

• psychologists have argued that greater gender inequalities in societies when economic subsistence favoured physical strenght and disadvantaged nursing and childcare

  • today, physical strength is no longer an advantage for most, and resources like birth control and day care make it possible for women and men to maintain engagment in workforce

• physical changes males and females experience during puberty are accompanied by psychological and behavioural changes

  • in some cultures, the increase in body fat for females may be related to gendre differences in body image (how one sees and feels about their own body)

  • on average, American girls 3tend to have more negative attitudes towards their bodies than American boys and want to lose several pounds regardless of how much they actually weigh (girls more concerned about losing weight, boys most concerned about being more muscular)

  • dissatisfaction with body image has long been associated with several difficulties from low self-esteem & depression, to eating disorders

• the onset of sexual attraction accompanies physical maturation

  • sexual attraction is first experienced at about 10 years (same-sex and other sex)

  • the onset of sexual attraction correlates with the maturation of the adrenal glands, which are the major source of sex steroids besides the testes and ovaries (adrenarche - the period prior to the emergence of visible signs of puberty during which andrenal glands mature)

Cognitive Abilities and Academic Achievement

• the effect sizes of average gender-differences in cognitive ability or performance have been relatively small, but somewhat greater differences appear when it comes to motivation for particular subjects

• reducing gender differences in academic motivation and achievement are critical steps toward increasing gender equality in society

• because of the discrimination and bullying gender non-conforming youth often encounter in school, many transgender and nonbinary children suffer academically

General Intelligence and Overall Academic Achievement

• boys and girls are equivalent in most aspects of intelligence and cognitive functioning

• however, more boys than girls have scored at both the lowest and the highest extremes, because somewhat more boys than girls have been diagnosed with intellectual disabilities or are classified as intellectually gifted

• some average differences in academic achievement were seen from elementary school through college, indicating that girls tend to show higher levels of school adjustment and achievement than boys

• the magnitude of gender difference in academic achievement varies somewhat across different cultural and ethnic groups and socioeconomic levels

Verbal Skills

• compared with boys, girls tend to be slightly advanced in early language development, including fluency and clarity of articulation and vocabulary development

• on standardized tests, there is a trivial average gender difference favouring girls, but larger average differences were seen when specific verbal skills were examined

• girls tend to achieve higher average performance in reading and writing from elementary to high school

• boys were more likely to suffer speech-related problems like poor articulation and stuttering, as well as more reading-related difficulties like dyslexia

Spatial Skills

• boys tend to perform better than girls in some aspects of visual-spatial processing

• this difference typically emerges between 3-4 yeras of age, and become more substantial during adolescence and adulthood

• the conclusion that more boys than girls have superior spatial ability depends on the particular type of spatial ability

STEM-Related Skills

• until recent decades, boys tended to perform somewhat better on math tests than girls, but the gender gap has been closed dramatically due to the efforts of schools and parents to improve girls’ performance

• cross-national comparisons revealed some countries in which girls exceeded boys in average mathematical performance

• girls and women are underrepresented in the physical sciences and technological fields, and educators and researchers are increasingly addressing this gender gap

• In contrast to physical sciences and technology, girls and women are attaining gender equality in biological and health sciences

Explanations for Gender Differences in Cognitive Abilities and Achievement

Brain and hormonal influences

• it is impossible to determine whether any differences in brain structure and function seen in adults are due to genetic or environmental influences

• a slight biological tendency can get exaggerated through differential experience

  • ex. boys may have a slight advantage over girls in somet ypes of spatial processing, but they often spend more time playing video games nad sports than girls, meaning they practice their spatial skills more

  • several studies indicate that spatial skills can be substantially improved in girls and boys through training

• some sex differences in brain structure may be partly due to the influence of sex-related hormones on the developing fetal brain

  • ex. androgens may affect parts of the brain associated with spatial skills

  • because males are exposed to higher levels of androgens than females during prenatal development, this may lead to greater specialization in parts of the brain related to spatial ability

  • conversly, males with androfllgen insensitivity syndrome tend to score lower than average in spatial ability

Cognitive and motivational influences

• the process of self-socialization emphasized in cognitive motivational theories plays a role in children’s academic achievement

• according to Eccle’s expectancy-value model of achievement, children are most motivated to achieve in areas they are expected to succeed and they value

  • gender stereotypes shape this

Parental influences

• parents talking to their children is a strong predictor of children’s language learning

  • young girls may learn language at a slightly faster rate than boys because mothers may spend more time talking with daughters than with sons

  • alternatively, because many girls tend to acquire language earlier than some boys, perhaps girls are more likely to elicit talk from mothers

  • both patterns may tend to occur as a biodirectional influence

• parents’ gender stereotyping is also related to children’s academic achievement

• longitudinal research suggests parents’ expectations can sometimes have a stronger impact on children’s later achievement than the children’s earlier performance in particular subject areas

Teacher influences

• teachers can influence gender differences in children’s academic motivation and achievement

• some may hold gender-stereotyped beliefs about girls’ and boy's’ abilities, which can lead to them differentially assessing, encouraging,and paying attention to students based on their gender

• this can lay the groundwork for self-fulfilling prophecies that affect children’s later academic achievement

• many educators have become more aware of gender bias over the years

Peer influences

• children are usually concerned with gaining acceptance from peres and their interests are often shaped by activities and values they associate with their classmates and friends

• this influence begins with play activities which provide them with opportunities to develop spatial abilities (for boys with video games) , and with girls, domestic role-play which is talk-oriented builds verbals skills

• girls and boys may be more likely to strive in particular school subjects when viewed as compatible with peer norms

• peer norms regarding particular academic subjects may be related to how likely girls or boys are apt to value those subjects

• traditional masculinity norms emphasizing dominance and self-reliance may undermine some boy’s academic achievement

  • ex. some boys may not consider it masculine to do well in certain subjects

Cultural influences

• cultural influences on gender-related variations in mathematics achievement were found, and to assess possible cultural influences, researchrers considered the representation of women in higher education in the country

• they found average gender differences in several math-related outcomes were less likely in nations with higher percentages of women in higher levels of education

• the narrowing gender gap in math achievement in the United States over the past few decades has been accompanied by a steady increase in the proportion of women in science and engineering

• a recent cross-national analysis found that girls performed similarly or even better than boys in most countries

• the countries that were less gender-egalitarian also tended to have poorer economic conditions, and women in more egalitarian and wealthier countries may find they have more career options for attaining an adequate income

• average gender differences in overall academic success and verbal achievement tend to be less common among children from higher-income neighbourhoods, among children of highly educated parents, and among children of egalitarian parents

Interpersonal Goals and Communication

• researchers have found average gender differences that are consistent with traditional gender roles among cis youth in terms of interpersonal goals

• researchers have also observed average gender differences among cis children’s communication styles with peers

• there has been a small-to-medium gender difference, with higher average rates among girls than boys with regard to self-disclosures about personal thoguhts and feelings

• girls tend to be somewhat more likely than boys to use collaborative statements which reflect high affiliation and high assertion

  • ex. “Let’s play superheroes"

• boys tend to be more likely than girls to use controlling statements which reflect high assertion and low affiliation

  • "ex. “Do this”

• there is considerable overlap between cis girls and boys in communication style

• some children act in gender-stereotypical ways but not all

• future research could examine the interpersonal goals and communication styles of gender-fluid and trans identities, as wel as cis youth with more gender-egalitarian attitudes

  • because trans children prefer play activities more consist with their self-identified gender, one might expect a similiar pattern to be seen in their interpersonal goals and communication styles

Explanations for Gender Differences in Interpersonal Goals and Communication

Cognitive and motivational influences

• average gender differences in interpersonal goals and communication styles are related

• to the extent some cis children differ in their primary goals for social relationships, they use different language styles to attain those goals

  • ex. if a boy wants to be dominant, directive statements help him

  • ex. if a girl wants to establish intimacy, talking about personal feelings helps her establish her goal

• individual differences in interpersonal goals within any gender group may partly account for corresponding variations in whether particular children exhibit highly gender-typed behaviours

Parental influences

• many children observe parents modeling gender-typed communication patterns

• a study found that mothers were more likely than fathers to use affiliative speech, and fathers were more likely than mothers to use controlling speech high in assertion and low in affiliation

• a larger question to address in longitudinal research is whether and how parental modeling shapes the kinds of communication strategies children will favour as they get older

Peer influences

• social norms and activities traditionally practiced within children’s gender-segregated peer groups foster different interpersonal goals in cis children

  • ex. girls engaging in domestic scenarios are structured around collaborative and affectionate interchanges

  • ex. boy’s play that is more competitive is structured around dominance and power

• gender differences in communication were more likely to be detected in studies of same-gender interactions than in mixed-gender interactions

Cultural influences

• cross-cultural comparisons generally find a similar pattern of average gender difference in social behaviour

  • ex. affiliative social behaviour tends to be mroe common among females than among males

  • ex. directive social behaviour tends to be more common in males than females

• there are cultural variations in the degree to which these behaviours are seen

  • ex. in many Asian cultures, it is considered important for boys to show high levels of affiliation in social interaction, but they tend to be more direct in speech than females

• there are also cultural variations within diverse nations like America

  • ex. Some African American girls in working-class and low-income neighbourhoods have very direct social interactions in contrast to European American girls from middle-class communities

Aggressive Behaviour

• researchers distinguish between direct and indirect forms of aggression

  • direct aggression → overt physical or verbal acts openly intended to cause harm

  • indirect aggression (relational/social aggression) → attempts to damage a person’s social standing or group acceptance through covert means like social exclusion and negative possip

• average gender differences in physical aggression emerge during preschool years, with physical and verbal forms of direct aggression occuring more often among boys than among girls

  • the average difference was small during childhood and medium to large during adolesence

• there appears to be no average gender difference during childhood in the use of indirect aggression

  • because direct aggression is less likely among girls than boys, girls tend to use proportionally more indirect than direct aggression than boys

• average gender differences in aggression have been found primarily in research on same-gender interactions

  • ex. boys are more likely than girls to ignore the other gender’s attempts to exert influence, thus, when they are more assertive and less affiliative, they may be more apt to get their way in unsupervised mixed-gender groups

  • another interesting pattern is that in same-gender conflicts, boys were more likely to use power-assertive strategies and girls were more likely to use conflict-mitigation strategies, but in cross-gender conflicts, girls’ use of power-assertive strategies increased, while boy’s use of conflict-mitigation strategies did not

    • this suggests that cis girls may find it necessary to play by boys’ rules to gain influence in mixed-gender settings

Explanations for Gender Differences in Aggression

Brain and hormonal influences

• males have higher baseline levels of testosterone than females, but there does not appear to be a direct association between aggression and baseline testosterone levels

  • there is an indirect one: the body increases production of testosterone in response to perceived threats and this increase can lead to more aggressive behaviour

  • boys on average have more difficulty regulating emotional arousal and may be more prone to engage in direct aggression

  • greater average emotion regulation among girls may contribute to higher rates of prosocial behaviour and lower rates of direct aggressive behaviour

Cognitive and motivational influences

• average gender differences in empathy and prosocial behaviour may be related to differences in boys’ and girls’ rates of aggression

  • on average, girls are more likely to reprot feelings of empathy and sympathy in response to people’s distress, and they tend to display more concern in their behaviour

• direct aggression may be more likely among children who are less empathetic and have fewer prosocial skills

• the gender-typed social norms and goals regarding assertion and affiliation may further contribute to the average gender difference in conflict and aggression

• by emphasizing intimacy and nurturance goals, many girls may be more likely to view relationship conflicts as threats to interpersonal harmony that need to be resolved through compromise

Parental and other adult influences

• in general, most parents disapprove of physical aggression in both boys and girls, but they tend to be more tolerant of aggression in boys after preschool years (“boys will be boys”)

• children also appear aware of the “boys will be boys” bias and believe physical aggression is more acceptable and less likely to be punished when enacted by boys than when enacted by girls

• so, girls rely primarily on indirect strategies of aggression as to not attract adult attention and punishment

• parenting style may factor into children’s manifestations of aggression

  • harsh, inconsistent parenting increase the likelihood of physical aggression childhood

    • children who experience such parenting may learn to mistrust others and make hostile attributions about other people’s intentions

    • this association is stronger for boys than for girls

  • poor parental monitoring increases children’s susceptiblity to negative peer influences and is correlated with higher rates of aggression and delinquency

    • the fact that parents monitor daughters mroe closely than sons may contribute to gender differences in aggression

Peer influences

• gender differences in aggression are consistent with the gender-typed social norms of girls’ and boys’ same-gender peer groups

• it is worth noting that children who are high in aggression and low in prosocial behaviour are typically rejected in both male and female peer groups

  • these children tend to seek out marginal peer groups of other similarly rejected peers which strengthens the likelihood of physical aggression over time

• another peer influence on aggression may be boys’ regular participation in aggressive contact sprots, which sanctions the use of physical force and may contribute to higher rates of direct aggression among boys

• aggressive behaviours may also involve sexual harrassment (physical and verbal)

Media influences

• viewing aggression in moves, TV programming, and video games is associated with children’s aggressive behaviour for both boys and girls

• adolescent girls were more likely than boys to prefer shows depicting indirect aggression, and observing indirect aggression on TV increased the subsequent likelihood of indirect aggressive behaviour but had no impact on direct aggression

Other cultural influences

• although gender differences in aggression have been observed in all cutlures, cultural norms also play an important role in determining the levels of aggression that are observed in girls and boys

• when children are exposed to violence in their homes and communities, boys and girls both experience an increased risk of emotional and behavioural problems and show an increase in aggressive behaviours