Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence _________________________

2. Children’s Knowledge and Beliefs about Gender Distinguishing between females and males • From birth, infants are surrounded by cues signifying gender • Infants and toddlers are able to distinguish males and females ________________________

3. Children’s Knowledge and Beliefs about Gender Gender identity and self-perceptions • By age 2 or 3, children can label their own gender • Children begin to view their own gender more favorably than the other gender ________________________

4. Children’s Knowledge and Beliefs about Gender Gender stereotypes • Young children (2 years old) associate specific objects and activities with females and males • Gender stereotypes for toys, clothing, activities, occupations, etc. develop by age 3 • Gendered personality stereotypes demonstrated later than other gender stereotypes • Gender stereotypes are rigid between ages 5 and 7, then become more flexible until adolescence ________________________

5. Gender-Related Activities and Interests Physical performance and sports • Girls and boys similar in motor skills in preschool and elementary years • Gender differences in motor skills favoring boys increasingly pronounced from childhood through adolescence • Differential opportunities • Hormonal changes • Social pressures ________________________

6. Gender-Related Activities and Interests Toys and play • Generally differentiated by gender • Girls: dolls, cooking sets, dress-up, soft toys • Boys: vehicles, sports equipment, tools • Girls more likely than boys to choose neutral or cross-gender toys and activities • Different play environments ________________________

7. Gender-Related Activities and Interests Gender segregation • Children prefer playing with same-gender children by age 2 • This preference is especially strong in middle childhood • Reasons? • Girls tend to dislike rough, aggressive play • Boys unresponsive to girls’ polite suggestions • Shared preference for gender-typed toys and activities ________________________

8. Influences on Gender Development Socialization: The process by which each generation passes along to children the knowledge, beliefs, and skills that constitute the culture of the social group ________________________

9. Influences on Gender Development Parents • Provide children with distinctive clothing, room furnishings, toys • Foster gender stereotypes through conversation • Assign chores based on gender • Speak and act differently with girls than with boys • Are role models for their children ________________________

10. Influences on Gender Development Siblings • Less studied than parents and peers • Most frequent out-of-school companions for children and young adults • Older siblings important source of gender socialization ________________________

11. Influences on Gender Development School • Gender-biased social structure • Differential treatment in the classroom • Boys called on more than girls • Girls more reprimanded for calling out than boys • Black girls least likely to be given clear feedback ________________________

12. Influences on Gender Development Peers • Exert strong pressures on one another • Gender atypical behavior less tolerated among boys than among girls ________________________

13. Influences on Gender Development Media • Females and males portrayed in stereotyped ways • Television and gender stereotypes ________________________

14. Puberty Puberty: Period of life during which sexual organs mature and the ability to reproduce emerges • Primary sex characteristics • Secondary sex characteristics • Menarche: the first menstrual period • Changes in onset over time and across cultures • Feelings about menstruation • Advertising and cultural pressures • Effects of negative attitude toward menstruation ________________________

15. Puberty Gender differences in puberty • Girls finish puberty about two years before boys • Girls’ adolescent growth spurt starts about age 9, and age 11 for boys • Girls gain more fatty tissue than boys; boys gain more muscle tissue than girls ________________________

16. Puberty Early and late maturation in girls • Early maturing girls • May have feelings of self-consciousness and shame • Confronted with challenging sexual expectations • Associate with older peers • As well adjusted as other girls by the end of high school • Late maturing girls • May have low social status during middle school • Often dissatisfied with appearance • May end up more popular and more satisfied with appearance than early maturing girls ________________________

17. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence Identity: Deciding who we are and what we want to make of our lives • Importance of individuation may be more relevant for boys than girls ( • Identity development requires interplay between separateness and connectedness • Adolescent females and males take similar paths in quest for identity • Importance of extended kinship network for identity development of girls of color ________________________

18. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence Self-Esteem: Sense of worth or value that people attach to themselves • High self-esteem associated with good psychological and physical health • Self-esteem diminishes for both genders in early adolescence • Girls’ show lower self-esteem than boys • Black girls have higher self-esteem than other girls • Girls more dissatisfied with appearance than boys • School may undermine girls’ perception of their competence • Girls become more acutely aware of sexism during adolescence • “Loss of voice” ________________________

19. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence Gender intensification: Increasing divergence in gender-related behaviors and attitudes of girls and boys that emerges in adolescence • Physical changes of puberty accentuate gender differences in appearance • Adults apply increasing pressure on girls to be “feminine” • Dating encourages increase in gender-stereotypical behavior • Gender intensification starts to decrease by middle to late adolescence ________________________

20. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence Body image • Influenced by cultural ideal of extreme thinness for females • Self-objectification: Girls and women in Western culture internalize society’s view of body as sexual object to be looked at and evaluated • Girls much more concerned with body weight and appearance than boys around the world • Compared to boys, during adolescence girls: • Have less positive body image • Are less satisfied with their weight • Are more likely to be dieting ________________________

21. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence Body image, continued • Gender differences in body image increased since the mid-20th century • Increasing emphasis on thinness as ideal for females • Pressure from family and friends to be thin can undermine girls’ body image • Black women more satisfied with their bodies and less concerned with their weight than White women • Less emphasis on thinness in Black culture than White culture • Women of color still more concerned about their weight than males of color • Lesbians have higher body image than heterosexual women, but still have more weight concerns than heterosexual men ________________________