Gender Parenting Maltreatment Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood

What is Gender? Sex Gender

Sexual Differentiation 3 Male fetus exposed to testosterones (because of Y chromosome): leads to the development of male genitalia. Low levels of testosterones released-- result is a female fetus High levels in females:

Gender-Stereotyped Beliefs and Behaviors Children acquire at young age in terms of activities and behaviors. Preschoolers associate common objects, occupations, and colors with gender. Gender beliefs strengthen in early childhood.

Influences on Gender Typing Genetic Evolutionary adaptiveness Hormones Environmental Family Teachers Peers Broader social environment Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © Gengberg | Dreamstime.comGengbergDreamstime.com

Social Influences on Gender Parental Influences First models of gender behavior Treat sons and daughters differently, especially which parent? Raising a “genderless” baby? Siblings serve as role models Peers “gender school” Media School and Teachers Girls comply, boys defy Classroom biases; learning environment biases

Traditional Gender Roles “Boys should grow up to be masculine” “Girls should grow up to be feminine”

Gender Roles 8 Gender roles — expectations of how men and women are supposed to behave (cultural). Gender Identity — how a person views himself or herself in terms of gender; typically know by age 3 if you’re a boy or girl Gender Constancy– develops around age 7; understanding you will always be a male/female.

Gender Roles… Even babies (even newborns!), who show no gender differences at all, are described with these terms; baby “Avery”

Androgyny 'Intersexual' and 'hermaphrodite' refer to people intermediate in sex, 'androgyne' to people intermediate in gender.sexgender

Psychological Androgyny Presence of a high degree of desirable “masculine” and “feminine” characteristics.

Theories of Gender Identity in Early Childhood Social Learning Theory Gender-typing behavior leads to gender identity. Cognitive- Developmental Theory Self-perceptions (gender constancy) come before behavior. Gender Schema Theory Combines social learning and cognitive-developmental theories Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Cognitive Pathways for Gender-Schematic and Gender-Aschematic Children Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Figure 10.6

Reducing Gender Stereotyping In Young Children  Delay exposure to gender- stereotyping.  Model nontraditional roles.  Encourage mixed-gender activities.  Point out exceptions. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © Rmarmion | Dreamstime.comRmarmionDreamstime.com

Gender Roles: Theories 15 1.Gender Schema Theory: suggests that we learn a cultural “recipe” of how to be a male or a female, which influences our gender based perceptions and behaviors

Gender Roles: Theories 16 Social Learning Theory: Proposes we learn gender behavior like any other behavior — reinforcement, punishment and observation. Eg: a little boy wants to build houses like dad Eg:

Gender Stereotypes Broad categories that reflect our impressions and societal beliefs about females and males. Big boys don’t… A lady doesn’t…

Child-Rearing Styles  Authoritative  Authoritarian  Permissive  Uninvolved ©Rohit Seth/Dreamstime.com Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Characteristics of Child-Rearing Styles AcceptanceInvolvementControlAutonomy Authoritative high adaptiveappropriate Authoritarian low highlow Permissive high too low or too high lowhigh Uninvolved low indifference Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Discipline: Related to Parenting Style? Induction Power Assertion Love Withdrawal

Cultural Variations in Child Rearing Some ethnic-minority families have distinct child-rearing beliefs: Chinese parents often more controlling. Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, and Caribbean families combine high respect for authority with high parental warmth. Low-SES African-American parents tend to insist on immediate obedience.