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Developmental stability in gender-typed preferences between infancy and preschool age
Jillian E Lauer1, Sibel D Ilksoy2, Stella F Lourenco1
1Department of Psychology.
Infant gender-typed object preferences, like interest in trucks over dolls, predict later play choices. This suggests early preferences are developmental precursors to childhood gender-typed play.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Infants show visual preferences for gender-typed objects, mirroring preschooler play patterns.
- The developmental stability of these early gender-typed preferences is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the longitudinal link between infant object preferences and later childhood play preferences.
- To determine if early gender-typed object preferences predict later gender-typed play.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study tracked 51 infants from 6 to 13 months of age.
- Infants completed an object-preference task.
- Play preferences were assessed at 4 years of age.
Main Results:
- Infants showing greater interest in toy trucks versus dolls predicted significantly more male-typical toy and activity preferences at age 4.
- This included preferences for vehicles and video games.
Conclusions:
- Gender-typed object preferences in infancy may be developmental precursors to gender-typed play in childhood.
- Early emerging preferences show developmental stability into later childhood.
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