Sex-trait stereotypes in the self-and peer descriptions of third grade children
Tóm tắt
Previous studies have indicated that third-grade children have an appreciable knowledge of sex-trait stereotypes, that is, psychological traits which are differentially associated with men and women in our culture. The present study was designed to assess the degree to which children of this age employ sex-stereotyped traits in their descriptions of themselves and their peers. Subjects were 88 third-grade children, 44 boys and 44 girls, tested by male and female examiners. Each child was administered a self-description measure and a peer description measure, both of which were modifications of the Sex Stereotype Measure (SSM) used in earlier studies assessing children's knowledge of adult-defined stereotypes. Results indicated that both boy and girl subjects generally attributed male traits to boy peers and female traits to girl peers. Sex differences were found on the self-description measure, where girl subjects generally saw their behavior as more similar to female traits than male traits, while boys generally saw their behavior as equally similar to both. This asymmetry in the degree of stereotyping in boys' and girls' self-descriptions is discussed in terms of the relatively more “adult” (and perhaps “unnatural”) components of the male stereotype and the greater difficulty in socializing children to conform to the model which it provides.
Tài liệu tham khảo
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