The effect of gendered presentation on children's food choice

Children at the peak age of cognitive gender rigidity (age 3-6 years) demonstrate preference for gender-typed activities, toys, and peers. This study explores whether this preference extends to gender-typed food. A total of 212 Virginia preschool and elementary school children performed a card sort of food images and chose between snacks with gender-consistent and gender-inconsistent packaging. Chi-squared analyses revealed that children were more likely to choose a snack in gender-consistent packaging, even when a tastier snack in gender-inconsistent packaging was available. Further, children consistently sorted pink-frosted cupcakes for girls and blue-frosted cupcakes for boys; and a subset of children who imposed gender onto other foods did so consistently (e.g., hamburgers for boys). Consistent with other evidence of children's gender rigidity, these findings support cognitive developmental theories of gender and add a gender-based explanation of children's food choice.