title: Gender and discipline in 5-12-month-old infants: a longitudinal study.
abstract: We examined the effects of infant age and gender on the behaviors of infants and mothers during discipline interactions using longitudinal, naturalistic, home-based, taped observations of 16 mother-infant dyads (eight males and eight females). These observations were conducted between the child ages of 5 and 12 months and used a devised Maternal Discipline Coding System to code for the occurrence of discipline events. During discipline interactions, mothers vocalized longer, used harsher tones, and used more explanations with older compared to younger infants. Male infants were more likely than female infants to cry or whine during discipline events. Mothers of male infants used longer vocalizations, more words, and more affectionate terms than mothers of female infants. Male infants were more difficult during discipline interactions than female infants, but it appeared that mothers of males responded to this difficulty by using milder discipline techniques.
authors: Brown University, USA.
authors: Richard Evan
authors: RE
authors: Ahl
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Fausto-Sterling
authors: Cynthia
authors: C
authors: García-Coll
authors: Ronald
authors: R
authors: Seifer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014831:Voice