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The Role of Gender Constancy in Early Gender Development
Author(s) -
Ruble Diane N.,
Taylor Lisa J.,
Cyphers Lisa,
Greulich Faith K.,
Lurye Leah E.,
Shrout Patrick E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01056.x
Subject(s) - psychology , lawrence kohlberg's stages of moral development , developmental psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , cognitive development , social psychology , cognition , moral development , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience
Kohlberg’s (1966) hypothesis that the attainment of gender constancy motivates children to attend to gender norms was reevaluated by examining these links in relation to age. Ninety‐four 3‐ to 7‐year‐old children were interviewed to assess whether and how constancy mediates age‐related changes in gender‐related beliefs. As expected, results indicated a general pattern of an increase in stereotype knowledge, the importance and positive evaluation of one’s own gender category, and rigidity of beliefs between the ages of 3 and 5. Moreover, the stability phase, rather than full constancy, mediated some of these relations. After age 5, rigidity generally decreased with age, with relations primarily mediated by consistency.