title: Jimmy's baby doll and Jenny's truck: young children's reasoning about gender norms.
abstract: To assess the flexibility of reasoning about gender, children ages 4, 6, and 8 years (N = 72) were interviewed about gender norms when different domains were highlighted. The majority of participants at all ages judged a reversal of gender norms in a different cultural context to be acceptable. They also judged gender norms as a matter of personal choice and they negatively evaluated a rule enforcing gender norms in schools. Older children were more likely to show flexibility than younger children. Justifications obtained from 6- and 8-year-olds showed that they considered adherence to gender norms a matter of personal choice and they viewed the rule enforcing gender norms as unfair.
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, Monaca, PA 15061, USA. cec23@psu.edu
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conry-Murray
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Turiel
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011908:Rationalization; D012925:Social Conformity; D012945:Social Values; D013240:Stereotyping