Korean Children's Evaluation of Parental Restrictions Regarding Gender-stereotypic Peer Activities

Women Should Stay Home: Saudi Children's and Adolescents' Reasoning About Husband's Authority Over Wife

This study focused on Saudi children's and adolescents' reasoning about the authority of husband over wife. Fifty-eight children and adolescents were interviewed. They were read two vignettes in which a husband asks his wife to stay home and leave work in two situations: first, a family with newborn baby and, second, a newly married couple. Participants were asked to judge the acceptability of the authority of the husband over the wife and justify their judgment. In general, children were more accepting of a husband who ordered his wife to stay home when the family had a newborn baby than in the case of a newly married couple, and boys were more accepting than girls. In regard to justifications, boys applied conventional social reasoning and girls tended to use moral reasoning. Finally, adolescents invoked moral reasoning in both situations more than children did, and children invoked pragmatic reasons more often than adolescents did.

Culture influences the development of children's gender-related peer preferences: Evidence from China and Thailand

Current understanding of how culture relates to the development of children's gender-related peer preferences is limited. To investigate the role of societal acceptance of gender nonconformity, this study compared children from China and Thailand. Unlike China and other cultures where the conceptualization of gender as binary is broadly accepted, individuals who identify as a nonbinary "third" sex/gender have been highly visible and tolerated in Thai society for at least several decades. Chinese and Thai 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 458) viewed vignettes of four hypothetical peers who varied on gender (i.e., boy vs. girl) and gender-typed toy play behavior (i.e., masculine vs. feminine), and were asked to give a friendship preference rating for each peer. Chinese, compared with Thai, children evidenced gender-related peer preferences that emerged earlier, remained more stable across age groups, and were relatively more biased against gender-nonconforming behavior. The only cultural similarity was in children's preference for peers who were of the same gender and/or displayed same-gender-typed behavior. Thus, while preference for peers who are of the same gender and/or display same-gender-typed behavior is common among children across cultures, the developmental onset and course of these preferences vary by culture. Moreover, societal acceptance of gender nonconformity might be key to limiting children's bias against gender-nonconforming peers.

Saudi Arabian children's reasoning about religion-based exclusion

This study examined how Saudi Arabian children (M = 10.50 years, SD = 1.61, Range = 8-10 years) evaluate peer exclusion based on religion when the perpetrator of exclusion was a peer or a father. Children believed that it was more acceptable for fathers than for peers to enforce exclusion and were more likely to use social conventional reasons to justify exclusion when the perpetrator was a father. The discussion focuses on how social domain theory needs to take children's cultural community into account. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Research suggests that children do not defer to authority in making decisions about peer exclusion. Children tend to believe that authority figures should not order peer exclusion because it is a moral decision. What does this study add? Unlike children in other collectivist countries, children in Saudi Arabia support peer exclusion ordered by a father more than a peer. Saudi children use social conventional reasoning to justify fathers' support for peer exclusion.

Understanding Factors that Shape Gender Attitudes in Early Adolescence Globally: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Background

Early adolescence (ages 10–14) is a period of increased expectations for boys and girls to adhere to socially constructed and often stereotypical norms that perpetuate gender inequalities. The endorsement of such gender norms is closely linked to poor adolescent sexual and reproductive and other health-related outcomes yet little is known about the factors that influence young adolescents’ personal gender attitudes.

Objectives

To explore factors that shape gender attitudes in early adolescence across different cultural settings globally.

Methods

A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted of the peer-reviewed literature in 12 databases from 1984–2014. Four reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of articles and reviewed full text articles in duplicate. Data extraction and quality assessments were conducted using standardized templates by study design. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data organized by the social-ecological framework (individual, interpersonal and community/societal-level factors influencing gender attitudes).

Results

Eighty-two studies (46 quantitative, 31 qualitative, 5 mixed-methods) spanning 29 countries were included. Ninety percent of studies were from North America or Western Europe. The review findings indicate that young adolescents, across cultural settings, commonly express stereotypical or inequitable gender attitudes, and such attitudes appear to vary by individual sociodemographic characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity and immigration, social class, and age). Findings highlight that interpersonal influences (family and peers) are central influences on young adolescents’ construction of gender attitudes, and these gender socialization processes differ for boys and girls. The role of community factors (e.g. media) is less clear though there is some evidence that schools may reinforce stereotypical gender attitudes among young adolescents.

Conclusions

The findings from this review suggest that young adolescents in different cultural settings commonly endorse norms that perpetuate gender inequalities, and that parents and peers are especially central in shaping such attitudes. Programs to promote equitable gender attitudes thus need to move beyond a focus on individuals to target their interpersonal relationships and wider social environments. Such programs need to start early and be tailored to the unique needs of sub-populations of boys and girls. Longitudinal studies, particularly from low-and middle-income countries, are needed to better understand how gender attitudes unfold in adolescence and to identify the key points for intervention.

The Development of Korean Children’s and Adolescents’ Concepts of Social Convention

Previous research in the United States has revealed that children’s and adolescents’ understandings of social convention go through a developmental trajectory that includes an early adolescent phase “negating” the importance of convention. This study examined whether this developmental pattern would generalize to children and adolescents from the more traditional East Asian culture of Korea. Specifically, among U.S. samples, children in middle childhood have an understanding of conventions based on a concrete understanding of social hierarchy; early adolescents “negate” their prior understandings and view conventions as “merely” the dictates of authority; and in middle adolescence, U.S. samples establish an affirmation of convention as constituent elements of a social system structured by shared norms. Our hypotheses were that Korean children would not exhibit the negation phase associated with early adolescence and might develop an understanding of the societal function of convention earlier than U.S. samples. To examine this, interviews were conducted using culturally appropriate situations with 64 Korean children and adolescents in three age groups of 10 to 11 years ( Mage = 10.1 years), 12 to 13 years ( Mage = 13.2 years), and 15 to 16 years ( Mage = 15.8 years). Findings revealed that, contrary to our expectations, Korean children go through the same developmental sequence of concepts about convention as observed with children in the United States. This implies that the developmental trajectories of understandings of the functions of social convention can be generalized to children in traditional East Asian cultural settings.