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Sex and Power of Preschool Teachers and Children's Sex Role Preferences
Author(s) -
Sugawara Alan I.,
Philip O'Neill J.,
Edelbrock Craig
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x7600400404
Subject(s) - femininity , masculinity , psychology , developmental psychology , social power , school teachers , power (physics) , same sex , scale (ratio) , mathematics education , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , political science , psychoanalysis , law
The relationship between sex and power of preschool teachers and children's sex role preferences was investigated using the It Scale for Children with 19 matched pairs of chil dren in two preschools. Results indicated boys were more masculine in their sex role prefer ences than girls were feminine. While boys tended to increase in their masculinity from 3½ to 4½ years of age, girls' femininity showed no increase. In addition, as predicted by social power theory, boys in the preschool with powerful male teachers were more masculine than boys with powerful female teachers. Power referred to the degree to which teachers con trolled and dispensed resources valued by the children. No significant difference was found between the femininity of girls with powerful male or female teachers. The presence of female aides in the preschool with powerful male teachers may have minimized the effects of the powerful male teachers. These findings suggest that a combination of male and female teachers may be the optimal classroom arrangement for children's learning of sex‐ typed behaviors.