Carol Lynn Martin

Children's Search for Gender Cues Cognitive Perspectives on Gender Development

Young children search for cues about gender—who should or should not do a particular activity, who can play with whom, and why girls and boys are different. From a vast array of gendered cues in their social worlds, children quickly form an impressive constellation of gender cognitions, including gender self-conceptions (gender identity) and gender stereotypes. Cognitive perspectives on gender development (i.e., cognitive developmental theory and gender-schema theory) assume that children actively search for ways to make sense of the social world that surrounds them. Gender identity develops as children realize that they belong to one gender group, and the consequences include increased motivation to be similar to other members of their group, preferences for members of their own group, selective attention to and memory for information relevant to their own sex, and increased interest in activities relevant to their own sex. Cognitive perspectives have been influential in increasing understanding of how children develop and apply gender stereotypes, and in their focus on childrens active role in gender socialization.

Attitudes and expectations about children with nontraditional and traditional gender roles

Cross-sex behavior in boys generally is viewed more negatively than cross-sex behavior in girls. The two goals of this study were to assess attitudes toward tomboys and sissies, and to explore possible causes for differential evaluations of tomboys and sissies. Eighty undergraduates completed questionnaires assessing their attitudes toward tomboys and sissies, and their expectations for the future adult behavior of typical boys, typical girls, tomboys, and sissies. Results revealed that sissies were more negatively evaluated than tomboys. Women were more accepting of, and perceived more societal acceptance for cross-sex children, than were men. One reason for the negative evaluation of sissies may be that there is more concern for their future outcomes than for tomboys. Analyses of predictions concerning future behavior showed that sissies, more so than tomboys, were expected to continue to show cross-gender behavior into adulthood. Also, sissies were rated as likely to be less well adjusted and more likely to be homosexual when they grow up than other children. The accuracy of these beliefs and their implications for child-rearing practices are discussed.

Functional Flexibility: A New Conception of Interpersonal Flexibility

Traditional conceptions of interpersonal flexibility emphasize two critical components: (a) a wide range of interpersonal responses and (b) situational appropriateness. Most current measures are based on standard trait ratings, which cannot address situational adjustment. In place of trait ratings, we suggest the use of capability ratings, that is, self-reports of the ease of performing social behaviors when required by the situation. Our proposed index of flexibility, the Functional Flexibility Index (FFI), is the composite of 16 interpersonal capabilities. In Study 1, factor analyses indicated that the FFI is distinct from other widely used flexibility measures. Study 2 supported the validity of the FFT by showing substantial correlations with peer ratings of interpersonal flexibility. In Studies 3 and 4, the FFI outperformed other flexibility measures in predicting adjustment. Another form of interpersonal variability, situationality, is the tendency to view ones personality as being dependent on the situation. Situational individuals reported lower self-esteem than nonsituational individuals. Measures of functional flexibility and situationality were found to be orthogonal.

Patterns of Gender Development

A comprehensive theory of gender development must describe and explain long-term developmental patterning and changes and how gender is experienced in the short term. This review considers multiple views on gender patterning, illustrated with contemporary research. First, because developmental research involves understanding normative patterns of change with age, several theoretically important topics illustrate gender development: how children come to recognize gender distinctions and understand stereotypes, and the emergence of prejudice and sexism. Second, developmental researchers study the stability of individual differences over time, which elucidates developmental processes. We review stability in two domains-sex segregation and activities/interests. Finally, a new approach advances understanding of developmental patterns, based on dynamic systems theory. Dynamic systems theory is a metatheoretical framework for studying stability and change, which developed from the study of complex and nonlinear systems in physics and mathematics. Some major features and examples show how dynamic approaches have been and could be applied in studying gender development.

Early school competence: the roles of sex-segregated play and effortful control.

The purpose of this research was to examine the role that young childrens same-sex peer interactions play in influencing early school competence. The authors also examined the degree to which effortful control (EC) moderated these relations. The same-sex play preferences of 98 young children (50 boys and 48 girls; mean age = 54.77 months) were observed during the fall semester. At the end of the fall semester, one set of teachers reported on childrens EC, and at the end of the following springsemester, another set reported on childrens school competence (social, academic, and perceptual-motor). Results revealed that EC moderated the relations of childrens same-sex play to their school competence. These patterns differed for boys and girls such that same-sex play was positively related to school outcomes for boys high in EC and for girls low in EC.

Children at Play: The Role of Peers in Understanding the Effects of Child Care

Although the studies of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (this issue) and of Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) identify the potential of child care to affect childrens adjustment, how these effects are produced remains unclear. In this commentary, it is argued that there is a need to expand child care research by considering one of the most important, but unrecognized, contributors to child care effects-peers. Research is reviewed that suggests that childrens interactions in same-sex peer groups at child care affect their short- and long-term adjustment. We consider how research on early peer influences can inform the findings of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and Watamura et al. studies, aswell as contribute to the next generation of child care research.

The Structure of Personality Capabilities

Wallace (1966) proposed that personality be construed as a set of abilities. Rather than assessing typical performance, as in trait ratings, he recommended assessing an individuals ability to perform social behaviors. We have elaborated this notion by distinguishing between personality abilities and capabilities. In this article we focus on the capability, that is, the ease with which an individual can display a certain category of social responses. A capability X is assessed with self-reports of (a) likelihood of performing X when perceived to be required, (b) perceived difficulty in performing X, (c) anxiety in performing X, and (d) tendency to avoid performing X. In Study 1 we examined the relations among six measures of 16 interpersonal behaviors in the context of the interpersonal circumplex. The four capability-related measures were shown to be measuring something distinct from the two trait measures. Unlike trait measures, which showed a circular structure in two dimensions, capability measures exhibited a positive manifold structure (i.e., no negative intercorrelations). The first two orthogonal factors were interpreted as Hostility and Nurturance, which are normally bipolar opposites on trait measures. Thus individuals capable of hostility are also capable of nurturance. The only dimension to remain bipolar was introversion-extraversion. In Study 2, the nomological network of the capability measures was shown to be consistent with the theoretical construct. For example, high self-esteem and interpersonal control were associated with almost all of the interpersonal capabilities.

Fundamental Principles of Network Formation among Preschool Children.

The goal of this research was to investigate the origins of social networks by examining the formation of childrens peer relationships in 11 preschool classes throughout the school year. We investigated whether several fundamental processes of relationship formation were evident at this age, including reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure effects. We expected these mechanisms to change in importance over time as the network crystallizes, allowing more complex structures to evolve from simpler ones in a process we refer to as structural cascading. We analyzed intensive longitudinal observational data of childrens interactions using the SIENA actor-based model. We found evidence that reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure all shaped the formation of preschool childrens networks. The influence of reciprocity remained consistent, whereas popularity and triadic closure became increasingly important over the course of the school year. Interactions between age and endogenous network effects were nonsignificant, suggesting that these network formation processes were not moderated by age in this sample of young children. We discuss the implications of our longitudinal network approach and findings for the study of early network developmental processes.

Stereotypes about children with traditional and nontraditional gender roles

Two studies were done to assess different aspects of gender stereotypes about traditional and nontraditional girls and boys. In Study 1, 81 undergraduates (57 females, 24 males; 88% Caucasian, 12% Asian) rated the typicality and desirability of 25 personality traits and behaviors for boys and girls. Analyses showed that this sample believed that typical girls and boys differ on 24 out of the 25 behaviors and traits. There were fewer differences when they rated the desirability of the characteristics for each sex. In Study 2, 154 undergraduates (97 females, 57 males, 82% Caucasian, 18% Asian) estimated the percentage of occurrence of 26 traits and behaviors in traditional and nontraditional girls and boys (i.e., tomboys and sissies). These estimates were used to determine two aspects of stereotypes: the characteristics that are perceived to occur most often in a group and the characteristics that are particularly distinctive for a group. Again, stereotypes of girls and boys were found to be extensive. Percentage estimates, however, illustrated that stereotypes are probabilistic in that many boys and girls are believed to have both masculine and feminine characteristics. Stereotypes of nontraditional children were compared to stereotypes of traditional children. Analyses showed that tomboys were stereotyped similarly to traditional boys but sissies were not stereotyped similarly to traditional girls. Instead, the sissy stereotype was found to be very narrow. The advantage of using a variety of assessments methods is discussed.

Mood fluctuations. Women versus men and menstrual versus other cycles

Mood fluctuations in women and men were studied both prospectively and retrospectively to determine whether cyclic changes occur over phases of the menstrual cycle, lunar cycle, and/or days of the week. The participants (15 women using oral contraceptives, 12 normally cycling women, and 15 men), who did not know the purpose of the study, recorded the pleasantness, arousal, and stability of their moods daily for 70 days (concurrent data). Later they recalled (retrospective data) their average mood for each day of the week and phase of the menstrual cycle (women only). The only evidence of mood fluctuation over the menstrual cycle in the concurrent reports was that normally cycling women reported more pleasant moods in the follicular and menstrual phase than did men and women on oral contraceptives. Womens moods fluctuated less over the menstrual cycle than over days of the week. Recollections of menstrual mood changes differed from actual changes: Women recalled more pleasant moods in the follicular phase and more unpleasant moods in the premenstrual and menstrual phases than they had reported concurrently. Bias also was evident in recollections of weekday mood fluctuations: Weekend highs were exaggerated and Monday blues were reported even though they were not reported concurrently. There was no evidence of mood fluctuations over the lunar cycle and the groups did not differ in mood stability. The retrospective reporting bias for both the menstrual cycle and days of week suggests the influence of stereotypes about moods. Implications for research and practice are discussed.