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The effects of age and gender on social behaviour in very young children
Author(s) -
Lloyd Barbara,
Smith Caroline
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1986.tb00699.x
Subject(s) - psychology , assertiveness , developmental psychology , prosocial behavior , assertion , age groups , social psychology , demography , sociology , computer science , programming language
Children aged 19–42 months were video‐recorded while playing in an experimental room equipped with gender‐stereotyped toys. Children played first with their mothers and then with a familiar same‐ or opposite‐gender partner. Thirteen categories of social behaviour were coded from the videotape record using a computer‐assisted coding system. Twelve categories were combined in an aggregate measure— total social behaviour which increased with age and was more common in same‐gender pairs, except among boys in the oldest age group. Subcategory analyses revealed different patterns. Prosocial behaviour was more common in mixed pairs and the frequencies of assertion and withdrawal behaviour provided mirror images. Girls in the first three age groups and boys in the oldest group displayed more assertion but boys in the first three age groups and girls in the oldest group showed more withdrawal. At all ages boys were more successful in their assertive bids.