Self-regulatory mechanisms governing gender development.
This study tested predictions about development of gender-related thought and action from social cognitive theory. Children at 4 levels of gender constancy were assessed for their gender knowledge, personal gender standards, and gender-linked behavior under different situational conditions. Irrespective of gender constancy level, all children engaged in more same-sex than cross-sex typed behavior. Younger children reacted in a gender stereotypic manner to peers' gender-linked behavior but did not regulate their own behavior on the basis of personal gender standards. Older children exhibited substantial self-regulatory guidance based on personal standards. They expressed anticipatory self-approval for same-sex typed behavior and self-criticism for cross-sex typed behavior. Their anticipatory self-sanctions, in turn, predicted their actual gender-linked behavior. Neither gender knowledge nor gender constancy predicted gender-linked behavior. These results lend support to social cognitive theory that evaluation and regulation of gender-linked conduct shifts developmentally from anticipatory social sanctions to anticipatory self-sanctions rooted in personal standards.
Bussey
K
K
School of Behavioral Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, Australia.
Bandura
A
A
D000367:Age Factors; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012725:Sexual Behavior