Form and Content in Children’s Drawings: How they relate to each other and to gender roles

Form and Content in Children’s Drawings: How they relate to each other and to gender roles
Elizabeth Johnson ARE 6905 April 16, 2013

Discussion/Conclusion The various examples of studies shows that there is a clear difference in the way boys and girls draw pictures, but it begs the age old question of nurture vs nature? Rather, is it biological or is it societal influence? They are clearly both strong factors that play into the way that children draw. Analyzing whether the two are related, as in this study, may help to reveal which is more relevant to what influences the outcome of a child’s drawing more.

Discussion/Conclusion It is no wonder that there may be an early preference in children for certain motifs and colors, with gender directed motifs in clothing and decorations early on. Girls are adorned with decorative prints of flowers and rainbows, while boys have images of trucks and monsters. Girls are given humanistic toys, like baby dolls and Barbies, while boys are given fake weapons and mobile toys. Parents surround girls with objects that are pink and boys with objects that are blue. They may feel more comfortable finding a place and identifying themselves with certain things in the world, and these colors based on familiarity (LoBue & DeLoache, 2011, p.657).

Discussion/Conclusion I found there to be a consistent pattern threaded throughout the review of literature, in that girls find it more acceptable to identify themselves with male traits while boys are shown to avoid being viewed as having any female traits. It seems that girls are much more comfortable weaving in and out of the boundaries of gender roles and you can see this in the studies on color preference. The color studies may just be telling of a bigger issue that might need attention, in that young boys may feel more confined in their roles than girls, to stay within social boundaries. Conversely, there seems to be mixed messages and expectations for girls growing up in our society, dressed in pink and frills, yet expected to show they are “equal” to boys.

Discussion/Conclusion Solutions? Art educators need to be aware of these issues when teaching children of different genders to understand their students better. Giving children exposure to contemporary and historical artwork by both genders is one way to show different styles and subjects that have been done, and that can be borrowed from or expanded on. Boys may need to be encouraged to use more colors and more diversity in their range of colors.

Discussion/Conclusion But isit a problem? Is it bad if children might feel more comfortable identifying themselves with gender roles, as a way to figure out who they are? children’s brains may just need that framework to categorize themselves in a system of societal structures It may be the framework that needs to be reconfigured.

Discussion/Conclusion Solutions? A solution might be to adopt cultural norms from societies with exemplar gender role equities. Sweden, for example, has been mixing gender roles in their children’s catalogues, exposing children to images that will make an impression on the way they view what roles are acceptable options for them as they find their places in the world.

Image from the Swedish Catalogue, Leklust

Images from Swedish Toys “R” Us and Top-Toys Catalogues

Images from Swedish “Top-Toys and Toys “R”Us Catalogues.

Discussion/Conclusion I do not claim to know the best answer, but nonetheless, the more information we have as teachers about our students, the better we are able to guide them, individually. It is the teacher’s responsibility to continue their own education inside and outside of their classrooms, to bring that knowledge back to the students, and encourage them to go beyond the boundaries of what they know and are taught at home.

Discussion/Conclusion Personally, I have found these studies to be very insightful not just as a prospective art teacher, but as a new parent to a baby boy. I have been much more conscious of his gender and how I may or not be treating him in regards to that. He intently watched his father put a bed together recently, and I think that was the most still and focused I have ever seen him. So I do think there is more to gender roles than just what society has molded us into, but that the roles we have made as a society were also shaped by inherent proclivities.

LiteratureReview ProblemswithTuman’sstudy: Only thirty-three children were found to create a drawing outside of a predicted gendered framework. This may have been the results due to the limited options of gender roles in the narrative and had the results may have varied more, if the children were given a more diverse range of roles to relate with. While the data suggests that content and formal elements are related in terms of gender, it does not delve into how or if they are related with one another. Tuman does not investigate what impact a child’s environment and background may have on the way they choose content.

LiteratureReview Contrasting Study: “Gender Differentiation and Young Children’s Drawings,“ found no differences in the content or formal characteristics in children’s drawings (Chen & Kantner, 1996). When looking at nine different dimensions of both male and female children’s drawings from kindergarten and third grade, the only differences found were in drawing skills, finding girls had superior drawing skills to boys, as well as a preference for drawing their own gender. But they found no gender differentiation for the variables of subject matter, the use of form in shapes, or in color selection.

LiteratureReview Problems with this study: it highlights interest in sex desegregation programs for preschool and primary grades in public schools and claims that examining children’s drawings can be used to evaluate the effectiveness. The idea of the program promotes that teachers provide multicultural and nonsexist activities and material (Chen & Kantner, 1996), but this study does not clearly state as to what extent the school where the children were sampled did or did not participate and implement these practices. It also states that the slight differences in gender become less in third graders, but not attributing it to anything in particular, whether that it is from a desegregation program or otherwise. this was a local study in a university-based town and that the results may not be very broad.

LiteratureReview Supporting Study: “Children’s Gendered Sense of Self and Play as Represented Through Drawings and Written Descriptions,” does uphold Tuman’s and other previous research findings, that the way children of opposite genders both draw and choose content are, in fact, different (Bosacki et al., 2008). unlike Tuman’s study, and something that will be included in the current study, it has a self-report questionnaire and one that the children took home for their parents’ to answer.

LiteratureReview Procedure/Results: A scale was presented orally to the children and after each item, they were asked to respond to a Likert-type of scale of pictures indicating how true it was for them (Bosacki et al., 2008). Once this was completed the children were asked to draw a picture of him or herself playing on an 8” x 11” blank sheet of paper with a box of eight crayons. They were also asked to circle themselves in the picture and to describe their drawings on the back, to the extent they were able to.

LiteratureReview Procedure/Results: When analyzed according to whether the activities were physical or nonphysical and if they were competitive or solitary, twice as many girls drew physical and nonphysical cooperative activities and drew solitary behaviors, whereas for boys, this was the least common Boys were more likely to draw physical, competitive activities. When analyzing themes of play experiences, girls referred to more social and psychological aspects of play Boys focused mainly on physical activities (Bosacki et al., 2008). The only finding that was not consistent with past research, was that the boys drew more animals than the girls.

LiteratureReview Support of Biological Causes: “Sex Differences in Children’s Free Drawings,” shows that it is not just societal influences, but that there is an inherent, biological component to why younger boys and girls draw differently (Iijima et al., 2001). It is not testosterone that some might believe that is the reason boys are more aggressive and physical by nature, but it is the hormone, androgen. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a genetic disorder that begins prenatally and results in overproduction of adrenal androgen (Iijima et al., 2001, p.99). This study analyzed drawings by females with CAH along with unaffected males and females, using masculine and feminine indexes.

LiteratureReview Procedure/Results: An analysis of male and female characteristics in children’s drawings was performed on four aspects: motif, composition, expression, and color (Iijima et al., 2001, p.101). What they found was the feminine index for the pictures of CAH girls was significantly lower than that for unaffected girls, while the masculine index was significantly greater than that for unaffected girls. the masculine index for CAH girls was not significantly different from that for boys ( Iijima et al., 2001) What they found with the unaffected children were typical to previous research Example: Girls decidedly prefer pink and flesh colors and like to use warm colors, in contrast to boys that like to use more cold colors. (Iijima et al., p.100).

LiteratureReview Support of Societal/Parental Influences: “Pretty in pink: the development of gender-stereotyped colour preferences,” reveals that boys and girls develop color preferences very early on, but that it may be societal influence rather than a natural preference (LoBue & DeLoache, 2011). Similar to the previous study, the notable difference in regards to color can mostly be seen with the color pink. The focus is mainly on pink, because while blue is often associated with boys, it is completely acceptable for girls as well.

LiteratureReview Procedure/Results: There were two different experiments conducted. Both, giving an equal number of male and female children, from infancy to age five, the options to choose between items that were either pink or any other color than pink. The ending results show that around age 2.5, girls begin to demonstrate a significant preference for pink. Boys equally begin to show a clear avoidance for pink by the age of 3 and this was tested up to the age of 5. Before age 2, girls and boys showed no difference when selecting between the color pink and any other color. Several cognitive and constructivist views of gender development suggest children recognize their own gender, they actively seek out gender-related information and integrate that information into their developing concept of gender (LoBue & DeLoache, 2011, p.658).

LiteratureReview Similar Study: “The Color of Children’s Gender Stereotypes,” they found that the content of an illustrated booklet was more important to children than the formal characteristic, color (Karniol, 2011). Procedure: Children were given the choice of two booklets to color with the same contents inside, but with different covers. One cover had a pink illustration of Batman, while the other had a light blue illustration of a Bratz doll. Inside the booklets were the same three drawings that the children were asked to color: a fairy, a male action figure, and five stars. The five stars was to be a neutral option. Each child was given eight crayons split with four stereotypical colors associated with each gender, but were told they could use any they choose.

LiteratureReview Results: What they found was that boys overwhelmingly selected pink coloring booklets with Batman on the cover, while the girls overwhelmingly selected the blue booklets with the Bratz doll on the cover. But when they chose from the illustrations to color inside the booklets, they did choose content and color in line with previous research on gender preference. They were allowed to color all three, but a significant number of boys actively avoided coloring the fairy and in a similar fashion, avoided colors associated with female gender, especially pink. Girls were much more flexible in their use of color and the preschool-age girls imported “illegal” colors from somewhere in the classroom to add more colors (Karniol, 2011).

LiteratureReview Problems with Study: The problem with this study is that while it does give a gender neutral option for the drawing component, it only gives gender-specific colors and no gender neutral color options, which is something that will be explored in the current study. Avariable that is not explored in this or any of the previous studies on gender and color, is if the exact color of pink may has an impact and or makes a difference. The color of pink that is most associated with girl’s items is a pastel pink, but it would be interesting to see if a florescent or hot pink color was introduced as a choice, if it would become more appealing to boys, since the color may not have as female-based in association. Research has shown boys to like bright, dynamic colors.

LiteratureReview Study on Parental/Media Influences: when considering children’s gender role influences in relation to their backgrounds, there is a study on both parental and television influences, “Determinants of Children’s Sex Stereotyping: Parental Sex-Role Traits and Television Viewing” (Repetti, 1984). Participants/Procedure: Forty families participated from a professional, white collar population. The children were from ages 5.5 to 7.5 29 fathers and 40 mothers that completed Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), a self report measure of sex-typed personality characteristics.

LiteratureReview Procedure: A female interviewer showed the children ten different toys and were asked if they were for “boys” or “girls.” They were also asked about sixteen adult occupations and asked if the children thought they were for a man or a woman. The television viewing patterns of the children were also measured by requesting each child indicate which television programs they watched regularly (Repetti, 1984).

LiteratureReview Results: They found that the mothers‘ femininity and fathers‘ masculinity are strongly associated with their children’s sex stereotyping, but parental traits may affect the stereotyping behavior of daughters more than sons. This supports the evidence from other studies indicating that, although both boys and girls imitate the behavior of same-sex models, boys reject opposite-sex behavior more than girls do (Repetti, 1984, p.464). The amount of television programming viewed did not correlate with stereotyping but, rather, the types of programs did, in that children who watched more educational television programs tended to demonstrate less sex-stereotyped attitudes (Repetti, 1984). They did not find correlation with socioeconomic status, however the study cautions that the sample was not diverse enough in status to show a strong correlation.

LiteratureReview Considerations: a child who is from a single parent home or that has two working parents may have more unsupervised television and internet use, which could impact their views on gender roles. a child in a higher economic status may have a stay at home parent or a nanny, both typically female or maternal influences, and their media influences may be a bit more tailored and supervised.

Hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Home life and background information will correlate with the content in children’s drawings. Hypothesis 2: Children will choose to draw within their gender role stereotypes as well as gender neutral, if given the option. Hypothesis 3: The formal elements will stay within the boundaries of gender attributed styles, regardless of choosing typical or atypical subject matters. Hypothesis 4: Boys will choose to use the color pink if it is a bright, dynamic, neon pink rather than a pastel pink, usually associated with girl’s items.

Method: Participants: The Participants will stay somewhat close to the sample that Tuman used, in order to get a good comparison between her results and the results of the current study. But what will change is adding a population of students from a lower socio-economic status to compare these results as well. 300 children and their parents participating, but only from grades one, three and five. Out of the sample of 300, one-hundred and fifty students will be from a population similar to Tuman’s from a predominantly white, middle to upper-middle class and the other 150 will be in a school district of a lower socioeconomic status. Also like Tuman’s, a final sample of 250 drawings with equal numbers of females and males at each level will be pulled at random from the entire sample ( Tuman, 1999).

Method: Instruments: There are two instruments in the procedure. The first instrument is in two parts and is for the parents. First, is a brief questionnaire for the children’s parents that will cover background information such as parent’s occupation, amount and type of television the child watches, and how much the child is online. Second, the parents will complete Bem’s Sex Role Inventory. The second instrument is going to be different than Tuman’s in that rather than being read a pre-scripted narrative, it will be more of a “choose your own adventure” approach, with guided instructions and a broad range of scenarios to choose from for more diverse outcomes in the drawings (Appendix B). This method gives the children less visual cues than Tuman’s narrative, to see what they create on their own.

Method: Design and Procedure: Similar to Tuman’s, in advance of the study, a class list is to be obtained from the teacher and a number will be designated to each student with their name, age and sex documented on the class list only (Tuman, 1999). The number will be on the paper given to draw on and it will correspond with the same number on the questionnaires administered to the parents. The parent’s will be given an envelope with the corresponding number on the outside, as well, to seal their answers for privacy.

Method: Design and Procedure: The content topics to choose from will be given to the student’s during their regularly scheduled art class. They will be given two separate sheets of paper. The first will have instructions and a choice of content topics. The teacher will also read the instructions and choices aloud for the students and they are to circle their content selections in that time. This is so they can refer back to their selections when drawing so they don’t forget. The second sheet of paper will be a blank 8”x11” sheet of paper to draw on. They will be given 12 crayons, with 4 female-stereotyped colors (red, pastel pink, mauve, purple), 4 male-stereotyped colors (light blue, dark blue, light green, dark green), and 4 gender neutral colors (orange, brown, yellow, neon pink). The neon pink color will go into the neutral category as a tester, to see if boys will select it, since they are likely to avoid the pastel pink. Because there are no concrete rules on gender and color, the colors are chosen based on previous research studies.

Method: Design and Procedure: The short questionnaire was created to assess the parents’ occupation(s) and how much and what media is being viewed at home. A few smaller variables, like if there are pets or siblings, will be added to see if there is any relation to drawing animals and other children, rather than being attributed only to gender. The second part is the Bem’s Sex Role Inventory for the parent(s) to complete. Though it was almost forty years ago, it is still considered to be an empirically sound assessment. It measures traits evenly dispersed between 20 feminine, 20 masculine, and 20 gender neutral or “filler” traits (Bem 1974).

Method: Design and Procedure: The content choices were created using traits from previous research studies on gender roles. The formal elements will be scored with a male and female indexes to see if there is a relation to the content selections. Lastly, new variables in regards to color are being introduced, adding gender neutral options, that will be scored on male, female, and neutral indexes.

Method: Scoring: The short questionnaire will use both multiple choice and fill in the blank. The occupation will need to be judged based on the income range and whether it is mainly a male, female or neutral profession. The income range will be categorized into 5 social class ranges: lower, lower-middle, middle and upper-middle, and upper class, which are dependent on income and how many family members there are. The income will be determined by the median income of the parent’s occupation(s). Also, it will need to be determined if it is male or female or neutrally dominated profession, each having its own category. Both class based on income and genders in different occupations are always changing, so they will need to be assessed when the questionnaires are given at that time. The multiple choice will be pretty straightforward and answers will be related with results of the drawings.

Method: Scoring: The short questionnaire will use both multiple choice and fill in the blank. The income range will be categorized into 5 social class ranges: lower, lower-middle, middle and upper-middle, and upper class, which are dependent on income and how many family members there are. The income will be determined by the median income of the parent’s occupation(s). It will need to be determined if it is male or female or neutrally dominated profession, each having its own category. Both class based on income and genders in different occupations are always changing, so they will need to be assessed when the questionnaires are given at that time. The multiple choice will be pretty straightforward and answers will be related with results of the drawings.

Method: Scoring: BSRI: the parents must rate themselves on a likert scale of 1-7. The number one indicates never or almost never true, while a seven would indicate always or almost always true. There are four possibilities the answers can be categorized into: masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated. A score is taken based on the answers, then is put into one of these categories. A sex-typed masculine or feminine score is the result of more traits belonging in one or the other category. Androgynous is the result of scoring the median in both masculine and feminine categories and undifferentiated is the result of extremely low masculine and feminine traits.

Method: Scoring: Drawings: The content items are predetermined by the researcher into three categories of male, female, and gender neutral scenarios, based off of previous research that identifies male and female characteristics in subject matter from children’s drawings. Formal characteristics are judged with male and female indexes, also gleaned from various studies, including, but not limited to Tuman’s. They will be scored in a similar fashion to the BSRI, with a score from the female and male determinants, and categorized as being male-type, female-type, or androgynous/atypical, but not undifferentiated, since there is not likert scale, but rather, only male and female indexes. The colors used will be categorized as either male, female, or gender neutral and the number of colors used will be recorded, as well as if boys choose the neon pink.

A.1 Parent Questionnaire This is a background survey as part of a study on gender roles in art. It is to help us better understand gender differences in children’s artwork so that we can better understand how to broaden their artistic skills and teach each gender effectively. Your answers are private and anonymous. Please return the survey sealed in the envelope provided. Thank you for your participation and helping us to guide future curriculum! Circle the best answer or fill in the blanks: 1.) What is your relation to the child? Mother Father Main caregiver, but not mother or father 2.) Does your child live in a two parent household? yes no 3.) What is your occupation?__________________. If applicable, partner’s occupation?________________. 4.) How manyfamilymembers live in yourhousehold?___________. 5.) Do you have pets? yes no 6.) Doesyourchild have siblings? a. yes b. no

7.) How muchtelevisionwouldyou say yourchildwatchesperweek? No t.v. at all Hardlyany, but a little Thereare a fewshowsthatmychildwatches, but it is limited A decentamount, everyday 8.) Whattype of showsdoesyourchildtypicallywatch? Educationalshows, like on PBS or on Netflix Popular shows, like on Nickelodeon or Disney Channel A little bit of both. Not applicable/ not.v. 9.) How much time doesyourchildspend on a computerperweek? None Very Limited A prettygoodamount A verydecentamount 10.) Whatdoesyourchildtypicallyusethecomputerfor? Playinggames Educationalpurposes Both

Code #_________ Bem’s Sex Role Inventory Rate yourself on each item, on a scale from 1 (never or almost never true) to 7 (almost always true). When you have completed the inventory, transfer your ratings to the inventory score sheet. self reliant yielding helpful defends own beliefs cheerful moody independent shy conscientious athletic affectionate theatrical assertive flatterable happy strong personality loyal unpredictable forceful feminine reliable analytical Sympathetic

jealous leadership ability sensitive to other's needs truthful willing to take risks understanding secretive makes decisions easily compassionate sincere self-sufficient eager to soothe hurt feelings conceited dominant soft spoken likable masculine warm solemn willing to take a stand tender friendly aggressive gullible inefficient acts as a leader childlike adaptable individualistic does not use harsh language

unsystematic competitive loves children tactful ambitious gentle conventional

Appendix B Code #_____________ Children’s Content Guide You are going to be creating a drawing today. First, you will choose the character for your drawing. Then, you are going to select from different scenarios that your character will be in. And last, you will write a short title that describes your drawing on the back. Circle your selections from this page and then refer to your answers when you draw your picture. 1.) Choose your Character (circle): Girl Boy 2.) Choose what you will draw your character doing (circle): Swimming at the beach Winning a sports tournament Flying an airplane in the sky Having a Tea Party Fighting a Dragon in a far away land Playing an instrument or singing at an outdoor concert Rescuing animals after a storm Camping outside on a mountain Playing dress up at a slumber party 3.) When you are finished, please write a title on the back, describing your picture.

Was the hot pink color used? Y N How many human motifs are in the drawing?_________ Are there animals depicted? Y N If yes, how many?________

References Bem, S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Pschology, 42, 155-162. Bosacki, S.L., Varnish, A., & Akseer, S. (2008). Children’s gendered sense of self and play as represented through drawings and written descriptions. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 23(2), 190-205. Chen, W., & Kantner, L. (1996). Gender differentiation and young children’s drawings. Visual Arts Research, 22(1), 44-51. Flannery, K., & Watson, M.W. (1995). Sex differences and gender-role differences in children’s drawings. Studies in Art Education, 36(2), 114-122. Iijima, M., Arisaka, O., Minamoto, F., & Arais, Y. (2001). Sex differences in children’s free drawings: a study on girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Hormones and Behavior, 40(2), 99-104. Karniol, R. (2011). The color of children’s gender stereotypes. Sex Roles, 43, 441-458. LoBue, V. & DeLoache, J.S. (2011). Pretty in pink: the early development of gender-stereotyped colour preferences. Repetti, R. (1984). Determinant’s of children’s sex stereotyping: parental sex-role traits and television viewing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 10, 457-468. Tuman, D. (1998). Gender difference in form and content: The relation between preferred subject matter and the formal artistic characteristics of children’s drawing (Doctoral dissertation). Available from Proquest & Theses database. (UMI No. 9839130) Tuman, D. (1999). Gender styles as form and content: an examination of gender stereotypes in the Subject Preference of Children’s Drawing. Studies in Art Education, 41(1), 40-60.

Form and Content in Children’s Drawings: How they relate to each other and to gender roles